Maybe Things Aren't so Right Back Home
by Chewwwy
Summary: To fix relations between the U.S and Japan, Phillips Exter Academy sends its students to represent their country, and instead of booking a hotel for a month, they stay at U.A. Academy meeting new faces and making new friends. But there becomes a problem that Japan refuses their initial treaty proposal and things only get worse (and sometimes better) from there.
1. Land Ho!

Chapter 1

"Hurry, hurry we're gonna miss the flight!" Julia screamed, sprinting for the gate as fast as she could. The rest of the class followed her, past the ramp and down the stairs to the lower level of the Boston airport, which was linear, but still easy to get lost in. The group dashed up and down the hall over and over again until they finally found their gate, 2B, and were a panting mess (except for Leo) as they boarded.

"Holy shit Joo you had us running the perimeter of the fucking building," Charlie panted, moving strands of her dyed hair, which was pink, away from her face as she plopped down on an empty seat. Emilia sat down next to her, turning her wrist to glance at her wrist watch. It read 00:00, meaning that Julia had overreacted over literally nothing since they didn't have to board for another _thirty_ minutes.

"What the hell was the rush for," she scowled, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"S-sorry I was just really excited. And this trip was pretty expensive so I didn't want us to be late..."

"Just read you watch next time around.."

Julia merely hummed in response, starring at the bagged, sleepy eyes of the rest of her companions. Emilia rubbed her eyes, trying to contemplate how exactly Julia was even remotely awake at this moment, since so one else was. Carson's (who sat directly in front of him) usually neatly combed hair was tattered and messy, probably because he had just woken up. Charlie, who was next to him, was hunched over in her chair, clutching the large frogged stuffed animal she'd had since she was a child in her arms, using its soft body as a pillow as she drifted off into sleep. Khalid took one for the team, as he often does, sitting on the floor and leaning himself up against Ghala's ginormous suitcase, his headphones covering his ears as he closed his eyes.

' _Huh, where_ _ **is**_ _Ghala..'_ Emilia pondered, trying her best to stay awake. She glanced around the room to find that Roy was also missing; perhaps they were in the bathroom. Emilia glared at Julia, who was bouncing in her seat excitedly at the thought of stepping—or rather, flying— out of the country. She had to admit the bouncing was a little annoying

"What's got _you_ so jumpy?" She asked, barely above a whisper. Julia stopped, fixing herself into a more comfortable position, scooting to the edge of her seat and leaning on the handle of her duffle bag.

"This is my very first time out of the country so I'm just really excited!" She beamed. "I wonder what kind of people we'll meet or food we'll eat or places we'll see or—" she paused, twirling her hair nervously "sorry there I go again.."

Emilia felt herself smile a bit as Julia spoke. Her childish nature was certainly endearing, even if it was hard to bear with at times. Well it wasn't so much a childish nature than it was having a 6 year old in a in a 17 year old's body; being far too innocent for her own good, having an unnatural (and unhealthy) love for candy. Loving stuffed animals would possibly fall under that category, but Emilia threw that out the window as soon as she saw Charlie, the supposedly too cool for baby stuff girl, with a giant stuffed frog.

She glanced at her wrist watch again, the time reading 00:15, and began to become concerned as to Ghala's whereabouts since if she didn't come in the next 15 minutes, they'd leave her behind (not that'd that do anything anyways).

Another 7 minutes ticked by, and this is when Emilia started to get a _little_ antsy. Ghala was still gone. Nobody said anything at first, thinking that she'd show eventually. But when another when another 2 minutes passed, and Julia began jerking everyone awake and fixing their boarding passes, she found that Ghala was still missing.

"Hey guys where's Ghala? She still hasn't turned up yet."

Charlie lifted her head off of her stuffed animal, shoving it into her bag and setting it in front of her feet. Her eyes darted around the room as she raked a hand through her hair, checking each of the rows she could see to check if Ghala had moved.

"We could honestly just leave her. Worst case scenario she just goes in her private jet," she retorted.

Roy, who'd been chugging a bottle of water, snorted—which soon turned into a coughing fit as he choked on it. Soon the entire group erupted into laughter, even earning a light chuckle from Leo.

"Augh, I thought I was gonna die,'' he choked out. Julia hopped over to him, extending an arm and wrapping it around him in a loose, friendly hug.

"That sounded like a dying hyena," she giggled.

"Nah I think a suffocating whale is a little closer."

"Hmm, suffocating whale—I haven't heard that one," she snorted, skipping over to her carry on bag and pushing the button on the center of the handle to extend it. She rolled it over to the front desk, gesturing the rest of the group to come along with her. Emilia rose from her seat, trailing her backpack with one hand, raking the other through her tousled locks. She trotted over to Julia's side, setting her bag on the ground and coiling her hair into a messy, but still presentable bun.

As the rest of the crowd filed into _the_ most disorganized humanly imaginable, the faint clicking of high heels could be heard. Emilia averted her eyes from the closed door of the cabin entrance to see Ghala shoving her way through a cluster of people, her phone glued to her ear and the usual sour expression on her face.

"You can tell your children they won't be having a Christmas this year," she spat, lifting the phone from her ear with a barely audible 'ugh' and hanging up. She gave a deep sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose as she shut her eyes.

"I swear if one more person calls me, I'm going to _eviscerate_ them," she seethed, shoving the phone in her bag. Carson stepped over from behind Leo, who towered over him, quirking a brow,"Where were you? You were gone for like half an hour."

"I was in a meeting with the most _insufferable_ employees ever. I've fired two of them."

"Ah."

Ghala opened her mouth to vent, but she was cut off by the blaring intercom of the airport asking for their class to board the plane. Well, technically they asked for military personnel to board, but they still fell under that category— in a sense.

They all scanned their boarding passes, but when Roy went to scan his, he was more concerned with hitting on the flight attendant (who was pretty unimpressed by his attempts) than actually boarding the plane. Emilia gave an impatient huff before swiping her ticket and pinching Roy's earlobe and dragging him with her.

" _OW_!"

Emilia only glared at him in response, letting go of her grip on his ear before stepping into then cabin of the plane. The hollow inside of the plain was larger than she though, the isle was quite spacious, dim lights illuminating the dark interior. Dark leather seats rowed the inside of the plane, and after flopping down into one, Emilia could take a sigh of relief since they were both comfortable and large. Towards the nose of the plane, which was where they were sitting, the seats were in pairs and _usually_ Roy would opt to join his sister, but this time Leo took a seat next to her, drumming his white fingers against the arm rest nervously.

Roy sat across from them next to Khalid, the two of them sharing a set of earbuds that fed music into their ears. Carson and Charlie were cuddled up in a blanket together, falling into a deep sleep before anybody could disturb them. Julia hopped into the window seat directly behind Emilia, childishly staring out at the bright lights of the runway. Ghala slid into the seat adjacent to her, scooting around to consider the seat before relaxing her position, propping her head on her hand, and going to sleep.

Emilia stared out the window, gathering her thoughts. She wasn't sure about the whole ambassador thing; it was so new to her. Where would they be staying, who would pay? It was all on such short notice. Her uneasiness was as steady as the drumming of Leo's fingers, which completely ceased after she grabbed his hand make him stop. She averted her eyes to look at him (though not directly) and he flinched, tearing his face away as her grip lingered. Emilia scanned him, raising a brow and letting go, shoving her hand in her pocket as the plane slowly began to drag itself onto the runway.

—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

The flight was supposed to be 23 hours, but it certainly felt longer—at least to her. Leo didn't talk much; the few times he spoke were to tell her that the flight attendant had brought snacks, and even then he would only mutter 'she's here'. Emilia then decided enough was enough and she pulled her phone out, tossing it to flip it so that the screen faced her and shuffling her playlist, letting herself drown in the endless amounts of 80's rock she had saved.

Leo shuffled in his seat, hooking his finger on the edge his hood to take if off, revealing his loose white curls. He stole a glance from Emilia and kept staring once he realized she wasn't paying attention. His eyes rolled down her figure, and stopping at her calves as he noticed that they were littered in goosebumps. He contemplated giving her his blanket or jacket, but decided not to. He simply ignored her, rolling over as to face away from her, burying his face in the soft fabric of his blanket.

Julia poked her head through the gap between the seats, tapping Leo in the shoulder, startling him. He whipped around to face Julia, who was mere inches from his face. He wasn't embarrassed by it, he was more so annoyed that something like that scared him. Julia scooted back a bit, resting her cheek in her palm to meet him at eye level.

"What do you want?" He scoffed. Julia snorted and rolled her eyes, making him more irritated.

She sighed,"When are you gonna tell her?"

"Tell her what?" He pressed, narrowing his eyes

"That you're leaving," she affirmed, quirking a brow. Leo's eyes widened at her statement, darting around the cabin as he thought about what to say.

"I'm not," he answered eventually. Julia's brows seemed to connect as they pressed together, coupled with her confused expression.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean what I said. Why would she need to know in the first place? It's not her damn business, nor is it yours."

"Yeah _,_ yeah," she said coyly, before squirming her way back into her own chair.

Leo huffed, rolling over into his original position and drifting into sleep.

—-—-—-—-—-—-—

Emilia's eyes fluttered open, quickly adjusting to her surroundings. She pulled her phone from her pocket, pausing her music whilst checking the time; it read 23:00. She yanked her earbuds out and wrapped them around her phone before tucking it into her backpack. Emilia took a glance a Leo, checking if he was awake—he wasn't. He was fast asleep and his usually tense face looked...peaceful.

Emilia could hear the conversation of her fellow classmates since her ears weren't being folded with music. They were generally about stupid things, as many of their talks were. Roy was going on about how amazing Freddy Mercury was, though he wasn't wrong. Charlie was rambling about how much of a hag her grandmother was but that quickly deluded into the change of Venezuela's president, which had he smiling from ear to ear.

"WOAH!" Julia exclaimed from behind her. "So many lights!"

Emilia immediately opened her window, and true to Julia's word, there were 'so many lights'. The city almost seemed to have no darkness at all, the colorful neon lights of downtown Tokyo illuminating the area like fire flies in a forest. Emilia had to admit the lights were pretty, until they reached the innermost part of the city where the lights began to blind her. She didn't shut her window, only sliding down in her seat as the wheels of the plane lowered, casting hulled vibrations throughout the cabin.

 _Oh thank god it's over..._ was the only thing she could think, since— let's just say—being stuck in a small seat for 23 hours wasn't the _most_ pleasant thing in the world.

At long last, the wheels touched the runway, the plane speeding across the track before skidding to a halt and parking at the gate. The class instantly rose from the chairs, gathering their bearings and trudging off the plane. They sat in the waiting area for the Colonel, who bought his ticket late and thus had to sit away from everyone else.

Eventually, he came through the door, thanking the flight attendant with kind eyes before a stern expression covered his face, staring his students down. He scanned the class for a moment before speaking.

"You guys better have grabbed your stuff. We don't have time to look for lost shit."

"Don't worry, we got everything Colonel," Julia chirped with a toothy grin.

"Then let's go," he ordered, already taking his leave.

"Yessir," the class said unanimously, quiet enough to not catch the attention of others, but still loud enough for their teacher to hear. They all followed him like little ducklings, never falling behind, but never passing him either. The group passed through the glass doors of the entrance, the soft voice of an employee saying 'kitekurete arigato' echoed behind them as the doors closed.

" 'Siddown, and don't move," the colonel barked, dialing a number. "I'm getting us a ride."

Julia looked at Emilia with a perturbed expression, Emilia gesturing towards the colonel in response. Julia seemed to understand what she meant, since she asked where they were going to be staying, though their instructor ignored them until he finished his call.

"Ok listen up," he began. "We're staying in the extra dorm rooms of one of the best schools in the country so you **behave yourselves**."

Khalid raised his hand slightly to interject with his thick, vernacular accent, "But sir, couldn't we just stay in a hotel?"

The colonel seemed to be losing his patience, but he still answered anyway. "It's too expensive. And you guys are too damn loud—you would've gotten us kicked out on day one."

He was about to continue, but was cut off by a small white bus that had 'U.A.' plastered on the side in bold blue lettering. The colonel spun on his heel, away from the class, as started for the bus doors as they opened. Emilia and the rest soon followed him after, a few of them placing their bearings on the shelved before sitting down. The bus driver closed the door and pulled out on to the street and onto the highway.

"So what brings you guys here?" He asked, with amazingly decent English. The colonel opened his mouth to answer but Leo interjected him, answering the bus driver in Japanese.

"We're here for an internship," he lied. He look at the rest of the group, putting a finger to his lips and glaring at them.

"Oh I see! Well if I'm allowed to ask, what heroes are you choosing?"

Leo considered his question for a moment before responding. "None. It's mostly for research to see what life is like here in comparison to the states."

"Ah. Well I wish you the best of luck," the drive chimed as he exited the highway.

"Thanks,'' Leo responded, yawning. The bus driver seemed to take notice of it since he reassured them with a 'we're almost there' as he pulled up to the school gate.

The gate itself didn't even look like a gate, it looked more like a rectangular hydraulic press that was meant to either keep you out or hunt you down. The driver leaned into his walkie-talkie mumbling a few words that were not audible to the rest of the class before the gate opened with a loud 'vrrrrr' sound. The doors of the bus opened and the group took this as their queue to leave, the colonel in front (as always) with his students following behind.

"Bye, thank you very much!" Julia hollered. The bus driver tipped his hat and closed the doors, pulling away from the gateway and disappearing into the darkness.

"Damn this place is _huge_ ," Charlie gaped, raking a hand through her dyed hair. Carson nodded, adjusting his glasses on the bridge of his nose. It was indeed huge, the court yard was enormous on its own, being larger than their cabins combined. The building itself covered multiple stories, large windows peering at them and blue paint covering the areas that weren't made of glass, which was a small amount. U.A. was plastered on the center of the building's face in gold lettering. It covered a large portion of the middle while still looking aesthetically pleasing.

"Quit screwing around and get moving," the colonel barked, stalking inside. The group mumbled an unconscious 'yessir' as they entered the building. They followed their teacher up a flight of stairs and into a hallway lined with dorm rooms, each with a number and a name on the front. Emilia noticed that some rooms didn't even have names on them, but were still occupied, probably because they didn't care to label them.

Eventually they turned a corner and then another, past more rows of dorm rooms until they showed up at the end of the hall where two empty, unlocked, dorm rooms sat. The colonel the turned around.

"You guys are sleeping in here tonight. Pick a room I don't care, but I want you showered and in bed **ASAP** ," he whispered. "I want you guys on the track by noon. No excuses."

"Uh excuse me sir, but why noon? Don't you usually wake us up at the ass crack of dawn?" Charlie retorted. The colonel ran his fingers across the bags of his eyes and looked at her.

"I'm tired as hell. I need sleep," he groaned. "Now quit complaining at get to bed."

"Oh-ho I wasn't complaining. I just wasn't sure if you were joking or not," she admitted before turning the knob on one of the doors and walking inside, the rest of the girls following after.

Emilia was surprised but the room's size when she walked in. It was large and spacious with 2 beds and a couch inside. She could feel the soft breath of the cold air conditioning filling the room, and it felt nice. There was also a closet, larger than the one in their own room and there was bathroom that was quite spacious. Emilia trudged over to the first bed she laid her eyes on and threw herself onto it, letting her backpack fall to the floor as she savored the comfortable mattress.

"This is the nicest bed I've had in two years," she whispered absentmindedly. Ghala chuckled slightly as she hopped on to the bed adjacent to her, removing her heels with a sigh of relief.

"Thank Allah this place has air conditioning," she said. "I would've sued if they didn't."

Julia sat on the couch next to Charlie, who was texting someone by the name of 'Ainsworth'. None of them knew who this person was, only that it was someone at Charlie's old school.

"Hey guys, who's bunking with who?" She asked, breaking the silence. Charlie looked at her with a raised brow as she continued texting.

"I call dibs on the couch. I'm not bunking with any of you guys."

Julia pouted, attempting to use her 'puppy dog eyes' to convince her. "Aww, why?"

"For starters, you kick people," she began, then pointed her finger at Emilia. "You've recently been screaming hella loud in your sleep."

She then pointed at Ghala with narrowed eyes, though they were meant to be in a joking manner. "And _you_ like to hog the bed to yourself! You don't even like sharing!"

The three had to concede and let her have her way. This time it was Ghala who broke the silence. "Well... since you sat with me on the plane, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to share a bed with you," she offered. Before she could continue, Julia raced into the bathroom, pulling her pajamas on as fast as she could and hopping onto the bed next to Ghala,tossing the decorative pillows off the bed except for one so that she could hug it.

Emilia lay motionless on the bed, battling her will to sleep so that she could get up and change, which she eventually did. She then dragged herself back into the bed pulling the covers over her body and was out cold in a few minutes.

Charlie had pulled a fluffy blanket from her backpack along with her toy frog and she crashed too, facing away from everyone else. Ghala and Julia had a lengthy conversation about Japanese cuisine before, eventually, falling asleep.

—-—-—-—-—-—-—

Emilia woke up like a new person. For once in her life she didn't feel stiff or sore or still yearning for a few extra minutes of sleep. She felt refreshed and ready to go; and it seemed that the others felt that way too. Charlie was already awake and was leaving the bathroom with a hideous mustard yellow sweater that has brown patches of fabric sewn on to it, and dark brown shorts along with white basket ball shoes that looked brand new. She noticed that Em was awake and smiled slightly at her.

"Rise and shine sleeping beauty. It's currently nine in the morning and the three of us were waiting on you to go down to the dining hall for breakfast," she retorted as she tied up a section of her short hair into a small bun, no larger than a half dollar. Emilia swung her feet over the bed and walked over to her suit case, grabbing her military uniform, which was a a button up tunic and baggy pants that, despite their appearance, fit quite well. Both articles of clothing had a camouflage pattern that was dull, yet vibrant at the same time.

Julia looked over at Emilia, pulling the lollipop she'd been sucking on out of her mouth with a 'pop'. "Hey why are you grabbing on your uniform? We aren't marching today, we're doing cardio and weights."

Em glanced at her, then back at her uniform as she neatly folded the shirt and pants, setting it back inside the suitcase. She then pulled out a muscle shirt and some jockey shorts that ran all the way down to her knees. After changing in the restroom, she tied her long (and unbrushed) black hair into a messy bun and slipping on a pair of tennis shoes. She removed her watch from the charger and fitted it on her wrist tapping the screen to make sure it was at full battery before plopping down on the couch.

"Ya know we don't go out for another three hours right?" Charlie asked. "You don't have to go in that."

Em turned to face her. "I'm too lazy to change," she said flatly before making her way toward the door and grabbing the first hoodie she could find on her way out. She opened the door and held it open, gesturing the other to come with her—and they did.

"Sooooo.. where's the dining hall," Julia asked, even though nobody had a clue where it was.

"Eh, we'll get there eventually," Charlie shrugged, making her way down the hallway.

The four wandered the system of rooms, all of the doors still closed. They kept walking but the hall just never seemed to end.

"Are you sure we're going the right way?" Em asked. Charlie spun on her heel walking backwards and rolled her eyes.

"Or course not, who do you think I am," she laughed. "I said we'd find it.. _eventually._ "

Emilia huffed, shoving her hands into the pocket of her hoodie and looked around. She then suddenly saw the door knob of a room with the name 'Kaminari' hung on the front wiggle and then open. She halted her friends with one hand as the a boy with bright, almost fake, yellow hair stepped outside in a white button up with a red tie and some black kaki pants. He closed the door and then noticed them, his eyes widening.

"Who the heck are you guys?!"

 **Oof my first crossover (well more like shoving my oc's into this world), hopefully its not _too bad (it probably is lmao)_**

 **Hope you guys like it tho :)**

 ***i might reupload the original story of these weirdoes if i can find the doc in the depths of my pc***


	2. New faces, Arguments, and Plans

**Holy ravioli this a long chapter (even though this is expositon so literally nothing happens.)**

 **i also forgot to put a disclaimer in the first chapter so.. yeah. I dont own My Hero Academia (shocker i know lol)**

Chapter 2

The boy looked at them dumbfounded as he took their appearances in. He'd never _seen_ anyone like them in U.A. before, so why were they walking in the dormitory? Were they transfer students? He opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by a _very_ pretty girl with ash blond hair tied into a pony tail, and big blue eyes that were adorned with long lashes. She held on to the straps of her overalls that hugged her waist, probably because they were too small, and she wore a big toothy smile on her face, showing her bright pink cheeks.

"My name's Julia," she beamed, extending her hand. The boy didn't seem to notice, so she waved her hand in front of his face. "Hell-o? Earth to spiky-haired-dude."

The boy snapped out of his trance, extending his hand to shake hers and was surprised as to how calloused they were—he expected them to be soft. He smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck, but then realized he forgot to introduce himself.

"O-oh right. My names Kaminari Denki! Nice to meetcha," he said. Kaminari then averted his attention to the other three girls standing next to Julia, A cold looking black haired girl in a gray hoodie and jockey shorts, a pink haired girl with the ugliest yellow sweater that he'd ever seen in his life, yet somehow it still seemed to compliment her. And then finally a dark skinned girl who wore jeans, sneakers and a striped button up shirt.

"So uh.. what are your names," he said eventually, pointing at them. Julia smiled once more, introducing her friends one by one:

"The one with the black hair is Emilia, the one with pink hair is Charlie, and then that's Ghala."

Kaminari waved once more, and they did in turn.

"So what brings you here? Are you guys transfer students?"

Julia turned to look at Charlie with a perturbed expression. She only shrugged in response, saying something in english that Kaminari couldn't quite catch.

"We were coming here for an internship and they let us use some extra dorm rooms," she explained. "We wanted to have breakfast and we were told to find the Cafeteria, but we don't know where that is."

Kaminari puffed his chest and pointed at it with his thumb. "Well you're lucky you guys found me, because I was on my way over there too," he said. " 'Cmon I'll show you guys the way."

He started down the hallway, the girls following close behind, taking a few sharp corners before finding the stairway and coming into the common room. They then went out the side doors and into the front door of the cafeteria where the entire room was filled with students.

"All right we're here," he confirmed, gesturing towards the tables. Julia pokes out from behind Emilia, offering Kaminari a big smile and thanking him.

"Any time! Oh and if you want I can introduce you to the rest of my friends," he suggested. He saw Charlie, Ghala and Emilia look at each other, and then at the lunch line.

"Nah, we'll pass," Charlie chuckled, pointing at the lunch line. "We haven't eaten since yesterday, so we're gonna go get food."

She paused, looking at Julia. "You comin'?"

Julia considered her for a moment before turning towards Kaminari and making her way over to him. "I was gonna go meet his friends, but I'll meet up with you guys in a bit," she said. Charlie, Ghala and Emilia all stared at her, confused.

"What? I just wanna meet new people."

"Okay. But don't be out for to long. Remember the colonel wants us at the track by noon," Emilia said dryly before jogging over to the lunch line.

—

Julia waited until Em and the others had left before she followed Kaminari. She thought he was a pretty cool guy. Pretty chill and laid back, the contrary to most of her classmates. He led her over to a table in the back corner of the cafeteria. It was occupied by a boy with _really_ spiky hair that, like Kaminari's, looked almost fake. He was jokingly elbowing a boy with messy blonde hair, similar to her own, and he glared at the red haired boy intensely. Across from them, sat another boy with straight black hair that was slightly longer than Charlie's. He had the weirdest elbows too; they looked like tape rolls.

"Yo guys," Kaminari began, gesturing towards Julia. "This is Julia, she's doing an internship here."

"Hello!" She beamed, waving to the group. The red haired boy waved at her, flashing a toothy grin that revealed his sharklike teeth.

"The name's Kirishima, and this grumpy old guy over here is Bakugo," he said. Bakugo became increasingly more annoyed, his face contorting into a scowl. The boy with the weird elbows pointed at himself, smiling.

"My name's Sero, nice to meetcha!"

Kaminari took a seat next to Sero, and Julia sat directly across from him, next to Kirishima. The five of them sat in silence for a while, the only noise coming from them was the clicking of chopsticks as they ate their rice.

"So Julia," Kaminari began. "What's your quirk?"

Julia cocked her head, her expression confused. "My quirk? Do you mean my ability?"

Kaminari shoved another mouthful of rice in his mouth and nodded eagerly, scooting to the edge of his seat in curiosity.

"My ability is psychokenisis," she began proudly. "Its a type of telekinesis that lets my apply force to stuff."

She lifted Sero's empty rice bowl without touching it, or even moving at all. That had the group even more curious.

"Here lemme show you," she said before promptly squishing Sero's bowl into a disc, them contorting it into a few other forms before setting back in front of him when it was nothing more than a smooth ball.

"I can do it with much bigger objects, but I gotta save my energy for drills," she explained, rubbing the back of her head.

"Drills?" Kirishima asked. "What kind?"

"Military drills," she said responded bluntly. "You know the stuff soldiers do."

All the boys, except for Bakugo, cringed slightly as she went on about how they usually have to wake up at 5:30 in the morning and the endless amount of running they did.

"Jeez that must suck," Sero grimaced. Julia nodded slightly before continuing.

"It's not all too bad though. It was mostly painful in my freshman, but that was a long time ago. The running part is actually my favorite now because Khalid, Charlie, or Roy will play music as we run. And sometimes if the colonel is in a good mood then we get to have longer intervals."

The boys nodded, except for Bakugo, though he did pay some attention to the conversation.

"So where do you guys go to school? I don't know any places that do what you guys do," Kaminari inquired. Julia snorted at his question, since it was pretty dumb given the context she had in mind, but answered it anyway.

"Phillips Exter Academy," she began. "It's a a military school in the U.S. where we're picked to go there based on our tier ranking. I'm a level 10 at the Braun campus— there's only eight people in my class actually."

"That's pretty cool," Kirishima commented. "So... uh, what exactly does you being a level 10 there mean?"

Julia wore a coy smile as she went on. "It means that I have one of the top eight offensive abilities in the country."

Now this is when Bakugo _really_ started to pay attention, and she could see it. His narrowed red eyes stayed locked onto her, waiting for her to say more.

"Woah that's awesome!" Sero chimed.

"Aw it's no biggie," she insisted, as she pulled her phone out of her back pocket. She checked the time and it read 11:30. Julia practically flew out of her seat and sprinted for the door as she hollered, "Sorry guys I gotta go, but it was nice meeting you!"

"Bye Julia!" Kirishima yelled as she ran outside.

—-—-—

"Hey sorry I'm late!"

Emilia turned her wrist to look at the time, it read 11:50. She lowered her hand and tucked it inside of the pocket of her hoodie.

"You're fine. Colonel is the one who's gonna be late," she retorted, undoing the bun and letting her hair flow freely. Leo already began stretching out his arms and legs, popping all the joints that he could before loosening his muscles. Soon the others joined him, trying to mimic some of his movements as they stretched. Khalid was too preoccupied with setting up his bluetooth speaker to worry about warming up.

Just as he finished, the colonel walked over to them, holding a sticky-not between his fingers, presumably with their drills for the day. Their teacher cleared his throat a few times before giving them a briefing for the week.

"All right listen up," he began. "The cardio this week is gonna be a little laid back. Your drills are gonna be spread out because I'm dead tired. I didn't plan anything for Tuesday and Thursday, so when that comes around, you're gonna go with the other students and do their 'hero training' or whatever. **And you all** _ **better**_ **behave yourselves because if I find out you did something, you're getting kicked from my class. YOU HEAR ME?** "

Carson raised his hand slightly to interject. "You know you can expel us from the course, right sir? It's illegal."

"THATS 100 ANDERSON," he bellowed, his bald head turning pink with frustration.

"Yessir..."

Carson dropped down on all fours and straightened his legs, doing the 100 pushups the colonel asked him—well, more like ordered him to do. When he finished, he jumped onto his feet, bending down and taking a swig of water before getting in the lanes with everyone else.

The students didn't move until they got the signal from their teacher, but afterwards they all broke into a steady run, except for Leo. He was sprinting around the track, but then again he was the kind of person who ate the bones of large mammals for breakfast, so it wasn't too far fetched.

Eventually they all finished, beginning their main set of drills. Leo was was nowhere to be found, possibly getting his own materials. They were lifting heavy weights today, so they had Khalid whip up some bars and weights made from wood and the metal from the fences using his ability. They all took the highest amount they could muster and began bench pressing until the afternoon was reaching its close.

—

The curly haired boy shuffled his journals into a neat before taking his leave from the classroom. It had been a long day, a long week really. He began to lose himself in his thoughts but snapped out of his trance when he felt a soft finger poking him. The sudden gesture startled him, his face then flushed red when he saw who it was: Uraraka.

"Hey Deku, you okay? You've been spacing out all day.."

Her face was so close to his, too close. He backed up a little bit to create some distance before answering her. "Y-yeah I'm fine," he stammered, a blush creeping at his freckled cheeks. Uraraka smiled at him as the two of them left the classroom and walked down them empty halls. Their walk was silent for the most part, and tension hung in the air. Thankfully, Uraraka broke the silence.

"Hey haven't you heard there are some new heroes doing internships here?"

Deku looked at her astonished. He never heard anything about visitors, much less interns.

"Wait what? I didn't know about that," He exclaimed. "Who told you?"

Uraraka smiled, her chestnut hair bobbing to one side. "No one really, I just heard it flying around. Apparently Bakugo, Kaminari, Kirishima and Sero met one of them."

"That's cool!"

"Yeah!" Uraraka said, nodding in agreement. "Apparently her name was Ju... juli—" she paused, trying to put together the correct pronunciation, "Julia..yeah, Julia was her name!"

"I can't wait to meet them, I wonder what kind of quirks they have," Deku beamed before spiraling into a muttering mess that Uraraka tried her best to stop.

The two approached the common room, where some students hanging around. Asu—Tsuyu, Ashido, Yaoyoruzo, and Hagakure were all sitting down on the floor in a circle playing a card game. Tokoyami sat in the far corner of the room reading a book, though Deku couldn't make out what the title was. Kaminari, Kirishima, Sero and Kacchan were all seated on the couches, playing a mobile game against each other which had Kacchan erupting into anger when he lost.

The front entrance of the common room opened and Deku suspected it was Todoroki, but he was sorely mistaken.

—

Emilia trudged through the automatic doors of the common room, dragging her brother by the ear as they entered. Leo stepped past her, hoisting his chains over his shoulders, keeping the from touching the ground (which was a much better idea than letting them just trail after him). Ghala and Carson began chugging their water bottles until they were empty, Julia dawning a saddened expression as the water disappeared.

Julia, desperate for water, trudged up to a plain looking boy, and grabbed his shoulders firmly, frightening him. Her head was low towards the ground for a while, and the boy raised a hand to tap her before she met him at eye level.

"Water," she began huskily, clearing her throat before speaking again. "Do you have water? Food? Anything?"

The boy remained rigid, too nervous to speak. He began with a few 'uhhs' and 'umms' before faltering and staying quiet. He then reached inside his pocket, searching before pulling out a small bag of about three or so sugar cookies. Julia snatched the bag from his hands, tearing it open and shoving all of the cookies into her mouth. She chewed them for a moment, savoring the taste, and then gave the boy a thumbs up.

He nodded stiffly, shuffling away from her with a nervous wave. "I'm glad to see that you like them."

Julia struggle to swallow the cookies since there was no water to wash them down, but she did eventually, wiping stray crumbs off her lips. She clasped her hands behind her back, swaying from side to side.

"You know you're a _real_ life saver," she said. "I honestly thought I was gonna die with no food."

"Yeah that's because you chose so hang around instead of eating breakfast," Roy joked, folding his arms in disapproval. Julia glared at him before sighing in defeat.

"I guess you're right," she conceded, rubbing the back of her neck. "Hey but _now_ , is a good time to hang around, we're not gonna have dinner for like another hour."

She whipped around to face the freckled boy who had given her the cookies, tilting her head to one side as she flashed a toothy grin.

"What's your name by the way? I don't think I ever got it," she smiled.

"Oh, um.. my name is Midoriya Izuku," he replied nervously, his hands flailing in every direction. Julia cocked her head, her eyes narrowing and brows glued together in thought. She scanned him for a moment before her face lit up, like she had an 'ah-ha' moment.

"Hmm, you remind me of my dad," she said randomly. This had Midoriya a sputtering mess, both confused and embarrassed.

"What do you mean," he squeaked. Julia leaned over in the opposite direction, with an unnervingly happy grin on her face.

"He's just a nervous guy with freckles. And he's—" she was cut of my the doors opening and loud rapping, coupled with terrible dancing, filled the room.

 **"Show me somethin' natural like afro on Richard Pryor**

 **Show me somethin' natural like ass with some stretchmarks**

 **Still will take you down right on your mama's couch in Polo socks, ay**

 **This shit way too crazy, ay, you do not amaze me, ay**

 **I blew cool from AC, ay, Obama just paged me, ay**

 **I don't fabricate it, ay, most of y'all be fakin', ay**

 **I stay modest 'bout it, ay, she elaborate it, ay**

 **This that Grey Poupon, that Evian, that TED Talk, ay**

 **Watch my soul speak, you let the meds talk, ay**

 **If I kill a nigga, it won't be the alcohol, ay**

 **I'm the realest nigga after all, bitch, be humble—" (I do not own this gem of a song btw)**

It was Charlie and Khalid. They were late because they skipped sets and were forced to clean up afterward. Both were a sweaty mess, their shirts drenched and the backs of their necks were like water falls—only with sweat instead of water. The two shared a pair of earbuds, seeming to have the time of their lives, despite their tired faces. The two waited for the next song but Emilia deduced that it didn't play since Charlie screeched a loud 'motherfucker' to no one in particular.

Emilia looked back at the rest of the common room, where everyone's attention was on them now; so much for being discreet. A few girls in the back looked at them with puzzled expressions, in contrast to the boys on the other side of the room, who didn't really seem to care. Except for one: a buy with ash blonde hair who angrily stared them down with red eyes, a grimace covering his features. He opened his mouth to yell but then shut it as Khalid removed the ear buds, wrapping them around his phone, which was covered in a web of cracks, into his pocket.

Emilia folded her arms and turned to her friends with a smirk, "took you guys long enough."

"Chief had us do extra," Khalid said, running a hand over his head and flattening his hair. Emilia always thought his hairstyle made him look like a knockoff Miles Morales except for the added fact that he wore glasses. He also was fairly short, but strongly built, having broad shoulders and thick arms that makes him look a tad too bulky. He had dark skin that complimented his features well, and dark brown eyes that bore into your soul—not in a bad way though.

Khalid looked at her, straightening his thick rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose. "Yo where Roy at? Ain't he supposed to be here for that meeting?

"Wait what meeting? I didn't know about a meeting," Julia exclaimed with a puzzled expression. The group turned to look at her and unanimously replied, "yeah because you left us!"

—

Bakugo's blood began to boil. Those damn interns were acting like they owned the place, and it was annoying the hell out him. They never stopped _talking_. They weren't from here, so what gave them the right to loiter around here?

Shitty hair (Kirishima) looked at him with a concerned expression, murmuring a 'you okay?' before scooting next to him.

"They're so damn _loud_ ," he seethed, barely above a whisper, a vicious scowl present on his face. Kirishima only snorted in response, resting his cheek in his palm as he tried to contain his laughter.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing.."

There was a heavy silence between the two, neither speaking as to not crank up the tension in the room. The group continued their conversation, right in front of the damn doors, not moving or taking any consideration for the people around them, though it mostly concerned him. He didn't understand why they acted that way, but then it finally dawned on him. He remembered what Julia had told them this morning: "I'm a level 10 at the Braun campus. There's only eight people in my class".

' _They're fucking around over there because they think they're better than us'_ he thought, his face contorting with anger. ' _They're not gonna be acting that way once I beat the shit out of them'_

He heard Julia from the other side of the room, and it was like attaching a megaphone to a three year old—loud and never shutting up.

" **Will you guys shut your goddamn mouths?** " He bellowed. " **You guys are gonna burst my fuckin' ear drums."**

They all stopped talking, staring at him completely unfazed. One pink haired girl has the _balls_ to shoot a coy smile, before cupping her hands around her mouth and yelling, "lol suck my dick".

The eyes of listeners were as wide as saucers, darting back and forth between the the two, curious as to what would happen.

Bakugo gritted his teeth together, threatening to crack under his clenched jaw. He almost seemed to fly out of his seat and at the pink haired girl, that smug grin still on her face. Oh how he'd wipe that right off her face when he got over there. He stormed over to her, yanking her by the collar of her shirt towards him.

"The fuck did you say bitch?" He growled, red eyes narrowing. Charlie blinked at him with a quirked brow, then smiled. "I dunno if you heard me, but I said 'lol suck my dick'—" she scanned him for a moment before adding, "you might wanna get your hearing checked."

Blood pooled in Bakugo's cheeks, a heated blush radiating through his face, ears and neck. He removed a hand from her shirt, curling into a fist and lunging at her—but then he stopped. His body felt locked, shackled. He couldn't move, or rather he couldn't move his body on his own. Bakugo felt his grip on the girl's shirt come loose as he was pulled away from her and his arms pushed to his side.

"LET ME GO YOU BASTARD!" he roared, tiny explosions crackling in his palms. He wanted to make them larger, but he knew that'd be a bad idea. House arrest wasn't something he wanted to have multiple times on his track record.

That damn pink haired girl just stood there, completely unfazed—in fact she was laughing at him, hunched over as she tried to catch her breath.

"I said let me go," he repeated, quieter this time but with a firmer tone. His explosions ceased, since at this point, they'd be useless. The blush fell from his cheeks, but his angry expression still held, staring them down.

It was only then when a familiar girl poked out from the group, walking in front of him and placing soft yet calloused hand on his shoulder. It was Julia. Her blonde hair was tattered and messy, the roots drenched with sweat. She looked at him for a moment, before setting Bakugo on the ground and let him have control of his body.

"What's got you so fired up?" She frowned, retracting her hand. Bakugo folded his arms and inhaled deeply, getting ready to yell.

"You guys are talking like you fuckin' own the place! You guys are so goddamn loud and you don't shut up," he yelled, jabbing Julia's shoulder with his finger. He then averted his gaze to the pink haired girl, "and this bitch pissed me off."

Julia considered him for a moment, bringing a finger to her chin. She then mimicked his gesture, followed by raising her short stature off the ground a few inches to be at eye level with him.

"Well, you're right. We are loud, but I think that's just an American thing. You're also being kinda hypocritical—ya know since _you_ were screaming at us like two seconds ago," she puffed, then paused before scooting back a bit. "And aren't you acting like you own the place? Yelling around and stuff."

Bakugo's face contorted (some how even more) with anger, a vein visible on his head as he tried to lunge for Julia, but then his movement was restricted once again—only for a moment.

He stalked up to Julia, looming over her short stature, scanning her face to find any ounce of fear. He only saw her big blue eyes and her bright pink cheeks that never faded but.

"You—me, outside on the training grounds," he growled, spinning on his heel to walk away. He looked back at her with a piercing glare. "We'll see how much you be talking once I beat you to a pulp."

He then took the corner for the stairs, raking a hand through his blonde locks before disappearing into the hallway, cursing under his breath.

—

"Well.. that was certainly something," Leo commented, dropping the chains to the ground, coiling them into two neat spirals and stacking them on top of one another. Emilia nodded absentmindedly as she surveyed the room to see what commotion they've caused—which wasn't much. They boys in the back were laughing amongst themselves and the group of girls farther away were preoccupied with a game of cards.

Emilia turned to Julia and, noticing that she was lost in thought, tapped her on the shoulder. Julia spun around to face her, cocking her head with a questioning expression.

"Are you actually going to go through with it?" She asked, a smirk playing at her her lips. Julia considered her for a moment, then nodded. Carson, who'd been standing behind her, frowned whilst fidgeting with the braces on his arms.

"You know there's no point in going, right? We are doing their ability course tomorrow anyway," he said. "Perhaps you do some combat and go up against him."

"Then I'll just spar with him."

"You know you have the worst hand-to-hand combat grade out of all of us right?" He fired back with a smile.

"Oh come on," she whined, puffing put her cheeks. " _Pleeaase_?"

"Julia, that's enough. You've already run your mouth for the day. We don't need to get in deep shit with the colonel," Emilia butted in, narrowing her icy eyes before adding, "You're being childish."

Julia opened her mouth to protest, but then conceded with a deep sigh. Though she looked slightly disappointed, but soon seemed to be back to her usual self within a few moments.

"Well I guess we should go eat then right?" Carson asked, breaking the silence.

"Yeah, lets go!" Julia beamed, already starting towards the cafeteria, but before she could actually go anywhere, Leo hooked a finger around the collar of her shirt, stopping her from leaving.

"I killed a deer this morning, were eating that. I'm not wasting it," he said firmly, spun on his heel and made his way to the door, turning his head and adding, "meet me in the boys dorm."

He left, presumably to fetch the cadaver, the closing doors covering him like a stage's curtains.

—

Leo set the chains down on the ground, being careful as to not uncoil them. He then trotted over to the makeshift ice-chest that Khalid has made with a mixture of dirt, wood, metal, and frozen bottled water to keep the body fresh. Leo bent down, unhooking the lock and lifting the lid of the case, scooping the carcass in his arms and closing the chest with his feet.

He glanced at the chains by the door, but decided to leave them, not wanting to dirty their dinner. He trotted over to the first balcony he saw, swinging the buck over one shoulder and jumping to catch the edge of the first floor with the other. He hoped from floor to floor, trying his best to not have the deer touch anything, until reaching the top floor of the building where their dorms were.

He sniffed around for the familiar scent that his classmates had; dirt, sweat, and the faint smell of pulse ammunition. He couldn't find it so he hopped from balcony to balcony, rounding the corner of the building until he heard the distant laughter his..friends... had.

The term was so new to him. Leo didn't necessarily expect to get so attached to this group—he went into his first year not wanting anything to do with anyone, but over time that gradually became harder. Especially when Roy and his sister transferred over. Roy sort of asserted his friendship to Leo, and the two slowly but surely became close—like two peas in a pod. His sister though.. oh, his sister...many words could describe her, but many could not. But Leo has to admit, he was intrigued, or rather— fascinated by her for some unknown reason.

Leo squatted on the fence of the balcony, in front of the door where laughter was most evident and he grabbed the doorknob with great hesitation. He took a deep breath, trying to rid the red hue from the tips of his ears, then opened the door.

The group was seated around a makeshift grill that Khalid seemed to have; Roy in the process of lighting a fire was closer to the burner. The rest of the group stared at Leo ravenously, awaiting their meal.

Leo lowered the carcass from his shoulder, still carrying it in his arms, glancing at Khalid and asking in a husked voice, "can you get me a skinning knife?"

"Don' worry man I gotcha," he responded, gesturing at Charlie to hand him her switch blade, which he then transformed into a slender skinning knife with his ability. He then tossed the knife at Leo, who promptly caught it with a hand. He knelt down, propping the deer on one knee an carefully peeling off the skin, then excess organs he knew that none of them would eat, then finally he removed every fiber of muscle that he could find, setting it onto the burner and letting them sit.

Khalid made a tray from some scraps of metal beside him, likely the ones he used to make the grill, to set the meat and bones on. Afterward, Leo wrapped the excess organs in the hide and carried them down to dispose of them, as well as cleaning his bloodied fingers before coming back up and sitting with everyone else.

There was a silence in the room, the sizzling of meat being the only noise present. Leo kept flipping the meat, keeping it on the fire longer than usual since he knew that everyone preferred their meat to be well done.

"This one's ready," Leo murmured, handing a large piece of the flank to Emilia, then waiting for a few more pieces to finish and handing them off to more people. They all seemed to inhale their share, some even asking for more, which Leo offered until the meat was gone. Roy then blew out the flames, Khalid removed the burner from the center of the circle, standing up to move it next to the closet before sitting back down.

"Mmm that was good," Julia hummed rubbing her stomach. Leo only nodded, grabbing the rest of the paper plates that they used and disposing of them.

"So," Charlie began, folding her arms. "What's this meeting about?"

Leo sat down and looked at her, perplexed. "This was your idea," he huffed, then added after a few moments of silence, "well? what's it about?"

"It's about the treaty proposal," Ghala explained, twirling the ends of her hair with fingers. "You are aware that the colonel leaves for the meeting in a week, right?"

"That's not that far away," Roy pointed out, brows raising with realization as he scratched his head.

Leo nodded, leaning against the foot of the bed and relaxing, the will to sleep gnawing at him.

"Yeah, that's why we can't go running our mouths," Emilia grumbled, eying Julia. "These people could have a link to the government—through heroes and through the school. If we fuck up, and someone says something, it's game over."

The group nodded, but Carson, taking note of Julia's was discouraged expression, spoke up.

"It's not your fault—I mean I don't blame you, but try not to say too much about us. It could put not only yourself, but the rest of us in jeopardy," he said with a soft smile. Julia nodded, resting her chin on her knees, but never spoke.

"The Colonel is going down at about four-thirty next Monday. We didn't call you here to patronize Julia, we called you over here because we think he needs a body guard," Ghala huffed, scrolling through her phone. She seem to have all her attention dedicated towards it, when it was somewhat the opposite. She had brought up a good point that nobody else had thought of.

Leo drummed his fingers against his knee, taking a stunted piece of bone from the tray and eating it. Charlie couldn't help but look at him with a disgusted expression.

"I don't understand how the hell you eat that," she gagged, turning away from him. Leo only shrugged, swallowing the shards of bone before picking up another one, but not eating it.

"So who's it going to be?" He asked, popping the small piece of the deer's rib in mouth.

Carson brought a finger to his chin to think, he stared blankly at the ground before his eyes widened slightly. "We could just have you and Charlie go. You both are fast paced and can keep up with anybody who catches him," he said, pointing at Leo.

Charlie shook her head vehemently as she played with a coin, letting the metal disc roll across her knuckles. "Nuh-uh, I'm not working with anybody who eats BONE for dinner," she insisted.

Carson looked at her with a quirked brow, "Well it only makes sense. Besides you guys are partners already—" he paused for a moment, then retracted his statement. "Actually never mind. Your kit relies on weaponry. You wouldn't even be allowed to enter the building. Your suit also makes you stand out."

Charlie leaned back on her hands, letting the coin fall on her lap, and nodding. She looked around the group, before coming up with _her_ final decision.

"Let's have one of the twins go," she said finally. "Either one is fine— personally I think Roy should go, but you guys take your pick."

"I think Emilia should go," Julia perked, curling her hair behind her ear. "She looks more Asian than Roy so she won't stand out as much."

"That's racist," Khalid interjected, wiping the lenses of his glasses with his shirt.

"Well, I'm not _trying_ to be racist," she huffed. "Em just fits the bill ya know— straight black hair, pretty narrow eyes, and pale skin. Roy looks like he had his hair dipped in orange paint and dresses like he fought in World War Two, so he'd be a no-go."

Emilia nodded, her expression blank—neither agreeing or disagreeing with their notion. After a few more minutes of talking about miscellaneous topics, before the girls filed out of the room to go sleep. Leo got up from his seat, showering and slipping on his pajamas before plopping on the couch and going to sleep, his subconscious filled with blue eyes, and black hair.

—

Emilia awoke to Charlie on the phone with someone, though she couldn't see her. She swung her feet over the bed, pulling the sheets over where she slept, tucking them under the mattress before setting the decorative pillows in an orderly fashion.

She stepped over to her suitcase that had yet to be emptied, searching through the neatly folded clothing and grabbing a red swimmers tech-suit, pulling it onto her body with a quick, yet great effort. The then coiled her unbrushed hair into a bun, letting a few strands frame her face.

Charlie emerged from the bathroom, still on the phone as she closed the door behind her, leaning against it with folded arms. Emilia could hear the faint voice of a man—or at least a boy with a deep voice. She couldn't be sure.

Charlie smiled smugly, curling a stray piece of hair behind her ear. "Three words, eight letters—say it and I'm yours."

There was a pause, then an 'uhhh' coming from the phone. The person on the other end then replied, "I got food?"

Charlie sighed, a bigger grin tugging at her lips, "you know me so well."

There was a short conversation back and forth between the two, about how she was doing and whatnot, before she hung up and pulled on top section of her bodysuit, pressing the button on her neck to seal it. She then trotted to the other side of the room, fitting on her titanium boots and gloves, which were very sleek and slender despite the metal they were made of. She grabbed the bow on the desk adjacent to the couch, and the arrows next to them, slipping them into the pocket on her leg and closing it with the zipper.

"Where's Ghala and Julia?" She hollered from the closet. Emilia pulled on her Greek-like sandals, tying the loose strings of carbon fiber together to tightly secure the shoes to her ankles before grabbing her surfboard, which was half the size of a normal one, and setting it next to the door.

"I don't know. They probably left early for breakfast," she responded, taking a swig of a protein shake she had left on her nightstand the previous night. It tasted very stale, but it wasn't spoiled by any means.

"What time is it?" Charlie asked, pointing at her wrist. Emilia mimicked her gesture, turning her wrist and checking her watch—it read 10:15.

"Why? Somewhere you need to be?" she asked, picking up her surfboard.

"More like _we_ ," Charlie retorted, pressing a blue button on the side of her neck to reveal her face. "You know for the ability-training-thingy? We need to be at the courtyard by 10:30– at least that's what Ghala told me."

Charlie moved to open the door, but then turned around and starting towards the balcony, motioning Emilia to follow. She pushed the glass door aside, pushing a silver button on her thigh which expanded the metal soles of her shoes into a hover-board, the soft hiss of the jets pushing her up off the ground. She then turned around, her back facing Emilia and hunched over slightly, her arms parted from her sides.

"Piggy back ride," she said flatly before Emilia hopped on her back, taking hold of her shoulders. Charlie grabbed her right leg with one arm, using her free hand to turn on the nerve endings of her suit, allowing Charlie to use the board without the use of her hands.

It didn't take long for the two of them to arrive at the front of the building. As they reached the ground, Charlie decreased the expulsion capacity on the jets, allowing them to slowly descend to the ground, the soles of her shoes folding back into each other before they touched the concrete. Emilia jumped off of Charlie's back, holding her surfboard in one hand and dusting off her knees with the other, then glanced around the area to search for the rest of the class.

She couldn't seem to find them, as they were obscured by the cluster of students that eagerly waited in front of the street for the bus. Emilia heard the distant hollers of 'Hey you guys!' from the crowd. She couldn't quite make out who it was, so she ventured towards the giant mob of excited students, only to see Carson push his way out, a stray section of his neat hair covering an eye. As soon as he spotted them, he took a deep sigh of relief, motioning them to follow him.

The three of them pushed and shoved through the horde of people, struggling to find the other end. By the time they actually made it out, the bus had already pulled up to the curb and opened its doors, letting people file inside.

Charlie and Emilia immediately sat down in the front, not wanting to go through that again. Roy and Leo sat adjacent to the two, Julia and Ghala behind them, however, Carson and Khalid had to sit a few seats back since the other students had claimed the chairs in between them.

The bus was filled with noise, mostly yelling and screaming— not anything too atypical of a traditional public school, but it wasn't something the group had seen in a while, due to their small size. In the end, they all just filtered out the sound with melodies of their own, devoting more of their attention to either the beat of the music, or the scenery outside, taking in the many facilities that belonged to U.A.

After about fifteen-or so minutes of shuffling playlists and tapping feet, the bus finally came to a halt. The passengers rose from their seats, some paying thanks to the bus driver as they stepped out of the vehicle, waiting in front of a large domed building for further orders.

Emilia met up with the rest of her classmates, sitting on a bench under a tree to separate themselves from the the constant noise. None of them said anything—they simply scrolled through their phones, Emilia looking at news of Japan's political affairs to search for any drastic changes. So far there were none, but she couldn't be too sure.

Slowly the noise died out from the crowd to a very noticeable extent which then filtered into silence. Suddenly, the entire horde of about twenty-ish people swarmed at them

"Wow! So you're the new interns!" A girl squealed, her skin as pink—if not pinker—than Charlie's hair. And that statement opened the floodgates for a tsunami of questions.

"Where are you from?"

"What are your quirks?"

"You're from America right? What's it like there?"

"What kind of heroes are there?"

At first, the pestering felt a bit intimidating, but as the questions went on, it only began to get annoying. This was very evident on everyone's faces, except for Julia, who was answering their questions, only for them to come up with more. This badgering got so bad that even Leo, who was quick to irritation but _never_ to anger, stood up from the bench, his tall stature towering over them as he took a deep sway backward, letting a powerful roar bellow through his lungs. Then, and only then, did they quiet down—the silence so resonant that you could hear a pen drop.

"To answer your questions," he seethed, staring them down with slitted eyes. " _Yes_ we are from the United States, and it it _fine_ there. No we do _not_ have 'heroes'—don't ask why. You will learn our abilities later, so quit butting in and causing a commotion."

A man with long, scruffy hair emerged from the crowd. He wore something akin to a black track suit, layers of white cloth were wrapped loosely around his neck and he had the eyes of a person who'd had the life sucked out of them. They were dry, the bags under of them weighing them down as if they had a hundred pounds strapped to them.

"Hmph, I couldn't have put it better myself," he chuckled, stuffing his hands into his pockets. He then turned to the cluster of U.A. students, his back facing Emilia.

" **Listen up** ," he began seeming to activate his ability, since his hair shot upward in an unrealistic way. "We're starting the training for your finalized hero licenses. There isn't time for fun and games—you have to go all out and bring your quirks to their fullest potential if you want to pass the test. There will be no slacking off."

He pivoted his body just enough to get a good view of the class of Phillips Exter whilst still facing, presumably, his own students. "I look forward to what you bring to the table," he mused, then stalked over to the dome in from of them, parting the doors and stepping inside.

 **Holy moly that chapter was long..**

 **there are honestly multiple places where i wanted to stop this chapter, but it felt kinda like nothing was happening do i just kept writing until i found a good place to stop**

 **im sorta trying to set the ground for the relationships betweeen all the characters, or at least the main ones, but since there's so many, the story has to be super slow-paced, so sorry if that isnt your cup of tea. But i'll try my best :)**

 **thanks for reading (ill try to update every week or so, well see how it goes.)**


	3. Let's Show 'Em What We Can Do!

Chapter 3: Let's show 'em what we can do!

The interior of the dome was something to behold. It had make shift cities and mountains—it even had a lake. The variety of environments never seemed to end as they continued into the innermost part of the build, stopping at a large open area where everyone waited for further instructions.

Emilia saw the scruffy man rise on a large block of cement, overseeing his students. An enormous black screen stood behind him, suddenly switching on to reveal a map of the facility. In the center of the map (not where they were standing) was a large neon circle labeled 'Objective A'.

"Ok so here's what we're doing to day," he began, clicking the remote in his hand to zoom into the circle. "You guys are going to be doing a point capture exercise."

He then clicked the button again to present a small animation of a set of two teams, represented through silhouettes, and a timer in between them.

"You'll be divided into teams—they're random before you ask," he continued, disappointment replaced the initial excitement of the U.A. students. "You'll have ten minutes to capture the objective and rescue the hostages. The point is to do it quickly and with as little destruction as possible. Do your best."

The man stepped down from the block as he turned the screen off, walking over to a black box and stepping up to Emilia, handing her a slip of paper. She took it, nodding in thanks as he left to go pass more pieces of paper out to the rest of the students. She flipped her sheet of paper over—it read team C. She looked around the room seeing if anyone had the same team as her, but then realized it was futile since the paper's were so small and she could catch anyone's attention with it.

"Hey is anyone on team C?" said a somewhat feminine voice, though Emilia couldn't quite make out who it was. It clearly wasn't American. She wandered around, asking a few students here and there if they were on team with no avail until she felt a slight tap on the back of her leg. She spun around, but saw no one.

Emilia then looked down to see a _very_ short boy(?), no taller than about three feet. His costume consisted of a silver, bowl-like structure for pants that covered a large portion of his stature. He also wore purple skintight suit that covered his face, blending into the balls(?) he had for hair. He also wore yellow boots and gloves that covered his appendages **(I honestly couldn't find a word for this so sorry if it sounds super weird).**

"Are you on team c?" He asked in a meek voice, stressed tears threatening to spill over.

"Yeah I am," she said dryly, flipping the piece of paper between her fingers so that the letter faced him.

The tears seemed to disappear from his face instantaneously as he smiled. The boy adjusted his glove, then extended his hand upward to towards her. She took the notion and shook his, crouching down to be at eye level with him. She felt a bit uneasy under his gaze— not that it was scary or anything—it was just... a little _too_ friendly.

Emilia slid her hand from his grasp, looking at her palm before standing up. The boy adjusted his glove once more, then fixing his scarf before letting his hand fall to his side.

"What's your name?" He asked cheerfully, though there was a split second where a sinister glint in his eyes surfaced. It was something Emilia barely noticed, but it was prevalent.

"Emilia," she said flatly, narrowing her eyes.

"That's a pretty name," he smiled, but perhaps sensing her vexation, faltered into silence.

The two walked in silence to another area by an open rock, waiting for their next teammate who had yet to be found. The boy sat himself, with a great struggle, on top of a large rock and propped himself on his hands. Emilia leaned on the other side of the rock, paying no mind to him as she was lost in thought—not about anything in particular though.

She felt a poke at her side, it was Carson with his hair now neat once again. She shifted her body to pay more attention to what he wanted to say, looking at him with a calm gaze.

"Hey Em, do you happen to know where Mr. Aizawa is?" He asked, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. Emilia quirked a brow in confusion so he continued. "The scruffy man who explained the activity to us—that was Mr. Aizawa. Do you know where he is?"

Before Emilia could say no, Mr. Aizawa popped up from behind her, carrying a yellow sleeping bag in his left hand. He stared at Carson, Emilia, and the boy with a dead stare that emanated with a vibe of 'god please kill me'.

"What do you need?" He mutttered, his voice monotonous and quiet, yet somehow still a bit sinister.

Carson's face flushed red when he got ready to speak, but he took a deep breath, regained his composure and looked at Mr. Aizawa readily.

"I... I want to be removed from the test," he said bluntly, his arms glued to his sides as he spoke. Mr. Aizawa merely looked at him with an annoyed expression, brows furring together in question. Carson lifted his arms and gestured to the sleek metal cuffs on his wrists that suppressed his ability, then continued.

"I wear these bracelets for a reason you know," he added curtly. "They keep me from using my ability."

"And what would that be?" The instructor inquired folding his arms and playing with the end of his scarf.

Carson paused, his eyes wandering around as he chewed his bottom lip, something he did often when thinking.

"I wear these cuff for a reason," he began, lifting his wrists toward Mr. Aizawa so he could see. The instructor looked down at the bracelets, then back at Carson.

"They're to suppress my ability," he added, running a nervous hand over his head. "You see, I have the ability to convert non-ionizing radiation to ionizing radiation."

Carson's expression hardened and Mr. Aizawa's did in turn, more so in anticipation. Carson's face relaxed as he adjusted the braces to fit on his wrists. They were very uncomfortable looking, being made of a thin metal alloy with a red button on the underside. The cuffs themselves stuck close to his wrist, allowing very little freedom as to where he could move it.

"I'd leave people in a cancerous state at best. If you're concerned for the safety of everyone else then I urge you to listen to me," he pleaded, clasping his hands behind his back. Aizawa simply looked at him and nodded before pulling out a clip board and writing a few things down and then leaving.

Carson smiled bitterly, before walking away and sitting on a bench under a tree in solitude.

—-—-—-—-—-—-—

Deku drummed his fingers the empty page of his notebook, looking at the screen and poised to take notes. He felt a slight tap on his shoulder and whipped around to see Todoroki next to him, concern plastered on his usually aloof expression.

"Are you alright?" He asked. Midoriya nodded slightly, shutting his notebook in order to drag his attention away from it.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he muttered sheepishly, then turned to face Todoroki. "I-I was thinking about the interns' quirks, you know since we don't have any on our team—there's 8 _them_ and nine teams.''

"You can make that 7," a voice interjected. Midoriya turned to face the source and saw it was one of the American students. He was a boy with neatly combed brown hair and somewhat pale skin that was decorated with a few freckles here and there. He wore a black military uniform, which like his hair, was quite tidy; not a single wrinkle or stray piece of lint was to be seen. The boy was rather tall, though he looked a bit lankey—but it seemed to suit him in a way.

Before Deku could even respond to his statement the boy said, "I backed out."

"Huh? What? Why?" He asked. The boy's eyes widened, as if not expecting the question.

"W-well it was mostly my friends' idea," he elaborated, rubbing the back of his neck as blood pooled in his cheeks. "I'm not exactly _safe_ to be around."

"Oh."

The boy stayed silent for a moment, his eyes wandering until he spoke one more.

"I never caught you name—mine's Carson by the way."

"O-oh, right! I'm Midoriya Izuku, but you can call me Deku if you want. Nice to meet you!" he responded as enthusiastically as he could muster, extending a hand, which Carson shook.

"Yeah.."

The board in front of them lit up, staying blank and white before showing their teams.

Team A: Bakugo, Julia, Jirou,

Team B: Charlie, Hagakure, Iida

Team C: Emilia, Mineta, Asui

Team D: ojiro, Khalid, Aoyama

Team E: Todoroki, Deku, Sero

Team F: Leo, Yaoyoruzo, Kaminari

Team G: Roy, Uraraka, Kouda, Tokoyami

Team H: Kirishima, Ghala, Ashido, Shoji

Deku realised that the last two teams had an extra member, likely due to Carson and Sato's absence (he was out with a stomach virus)

Carsons eyes widened as he skimmed the list, folding his arms and drumming his fingers against them. Deku averted his attention to the rest of the board, noticing that he went up against Yaoyorozu and Kaminari. He knew that'd he'd be able to pressure her up close, and that she needed time to set up, but that only worked if she was on the attacking team. The initial 60 second set up would give her enough time to coordinate and plan. Kaminari was the same, except his electricity had to be baited out so he could short circuit. The last person though, Leo, was someone he didn't know a thing about. Not even his ability. The only impression he got was from the roar to silence his classmates, nothing else.

"Ah you're going up against Leo, huh?" Carson asked, perhaps sensing Midoriya's thoughts. He nodded absentmindedly in response, to which Carson chuckled. He then leaned in closer down to Deku's ear, his breath startling him.

"I'll let you in on a little something," he began. "Kinda like Roy, Leo is useless when he comes into contact with water."

He pulled away, allowing Midoriya some space, then turning to walk away. "Keep that in mind," he urged before disappearing out of Deku's field of vision.

"Well that's certainly...deceitful," Todoroki commented, moving his bangs away from his face. Deku snorted as he looked around the room for... no one really. Okay, _maybe_ someone. Uraraka...

She was...special. She was the only person that had ever taken the time to consider him, even if she did have the mindset that he'd had a quirk to begin with. But it didn't matter—her kindness was still a gift. Their friendship was something he treasured deeply, but he wanted it to be something more at times.

Deku noticed that she was with her team: Kouda and Tokoyami. Suddenly, a boy with bright unruly red hair sauntered over, looping a not-so-friendly arm around her shoulders. Deku honed his attention on the group, picking up on their conversation.

"Hey," he jeered near her cheek, causing Uraraka to blush profusely. The rest of the team seemed shocked by his actions, exchanging glances with one another.

"U-uhmm..." she managed to spill out, embarrassment etched all over her face.

"What's your name?" He grinned, blue eyes sparkling. Uraraka managed to stutter out her name, the boy paused for a moment before letting her name roll of his tongue in an unsightly way.

"Gotta say that name has a ring to it. It's cute too," he said, his smile only getting bigger—though it seemed to be genuinely friendly, despite his tone.

"O-oh, u-uh, thanks," she responded, trying to slip from his grasp. Deku saw this as his queue to go and talk some sense into the guy, so he handed Todoroki his notebook, and walked over.

"Hey you mind leaving her be?" he began with nervous defiance, the two of them looking straight at them. "She seems to be very uncomfortable, so you should stop."

The boy looked at him, his smile faltering with widened eyes, then back at Uraraka. His arm then slipped from around her and her rigid composure began to relax.

"Oh shoot I'm sorry, I didn't know you were her boyfriend," he assumed, raising his palms in a defensive manner. Uraraka went a shade darker, but remained silent, whilst Deku became a sputtering mess.

"Was that really necessary?" Tokoyami asked, dusting off his cloak. The boy pivoted to face both him and Deku, running a hand through his unruly (natural) red hair.

"Listen buddy, I may be a flirt, but if someone's taken, I back off—it's not my business," he chuckled. "Besides I think—AUGH."

The boy had received a swift blow to the base of the neck, similar to Kendou from class B, from a black haired girl who was a bit short than he was.

"Cut it out," she hissed, glaring at him intensely.

"OW! What was that for?!"

"For being an ass," she said dryly, narrowing her blue eyes. "You're making a fool of yourself."

The girl then walked away, to her group which consisted of (god forbid) Mineta and As—Tsuyu.

Despite that, she managed to have a civilized conversation with him, though it probably because she had such a cold expression. Nevertheless, it was still a feat.

"I find your statement to be contradictory," Tokoyami said, staring at Roy whilst a loud 'YEAH' came from dark shadow.

The boy quirked a brow, confused. "Hm? How so?"

"That girl who just left, she was your significant other—," Tokoyami began, but was cut off from a fit of laughter from the boy, who was bent over trying to catch his breath.

"Woah-ho that's not my girlfriend—that'd be incest. She's my sister," he corrected, still trying to catch his breath.

"But you look nothing alike," Deku remarked.

"Yeah, we get that a lot.."

Before Deku could say anymore, a blaring alarm rung through the dome, indicating that their training was about to begin. He waved Uraraka good-bye before trotting back to Todoroki, who had found Sero while he was gone. Midoriya sat down on the concrete, opening his empty notebook and fiddling with a pencil between his fingers, ready to scribe any details that came his way.

The first match was about to begin..

—-—-—-—-—-—-—

"Aww, its a shame I got paired up with you," Julia cooed before curling her hands into fists and bouncing around like a boxer. "I was _really_ looking forward to duking it out with you!"

"Shut your damn mouth will you pink cheeks?" Bakugo hissed, glaring daggers at her, though she was completely unfazed by it.

"What, you _scaaared?_ " She teased, leaning in closer and batting her long lashes.

"Hah! I'd kill you!" He spat back.

Jirou rolled her eyes, sighing deeply as she struck her earphone jacks into the nearest wall, listening for any sound from the enemy. So far, she only hear miscellaneous footsteps, but they soon got closer...and closer.

"Guys get ready! They're coming," she yelled. Julia and Bakugo quieted, letting their (terrible) banter go for another time. Julia floated herself up to the ceiling, prying open the barred metal plates and slipping inside. Bakugo took a defensive position on the middle lane and Jirou remained on the right wing where she was standing.

So far, it was quiet. No body came onto the onto the point, letting the time tick away. It was almost suspicious. But then, suddenly, Jirou heard footsteps coming from the right wing. They came closer and closer, but even when the point registered as 'contested' she saw no one.

"Its Hagakure. They're sending her to scout out our positions," she told Bakugo, who nodded and gestured her to go behind cover. She walked over behind a stone on the left wing as he readied an explosion and set it off on the point. The blast thundered through the area, sending Hagakure flying, only evident by the loud _thud_ on the wall of the other end. Jirou figured she retreated back to her team, since she was only able to hear faltering footsteps into the right corridor.

—-—-—-—-—-—

Charlie sat cross-legged against the walls of the hall way, twirling with one of her titanium arrows like a pencil. Iida next to her wiped the residue off of his thin, rectangular specs before setting them back onto the bridge of his nose.

"Man where the hell is she?" Charlie groaned, fitting the arrow back into her pocket and expanding her folded bow, the shifting metal plates and making a _shing_ sound as they adjusted themselves. Iida stayed silent for a moment, staring out at the doorway, then looking back at Charlie.

"Yes I suppose she would've been back right now," he said, hoisting himself up off the ground as a stepping sound found its way into his ears. He leaned forward trying to listen to it further until he felt a poke at his side.

"Oh! You're back," he chirped, startled by Hagakure's sudden presence.

"Yeah.."

Charlie hopped to her feet and stood next to Iida, seeming like a dwarf compared to his height. She pressed the button on the side of her neck to remove the mask over her face, letting her dyed locks flow freely.

"You okay?" She asked, folding her arms.

"Yeah I'm okay," Hagakure responded, nodding assuredly. "Bakugo set off a big explosion, and it hit me.."

"Oh so that's what that noise was," Iida commented, bringing a finger to his chin. "Well did you find anything on their set up?"

"Yeah I did! Bakugo is holding the middle; Jirou is holding the right side, but she moved over to the left side to hide from the explosion. Julia is inside the ceiling, in some vent shaft off to the left side," she explained.

Charlie raked a hand through her hair, pondering their next move. She thought of a few strategies, like taking out jirou, then Julia, then explody-boy, but then she scrapped it.

"We gotta take out Joo first. If she latches onto us it's game over," she said, then opened her mouth to continue, but 'twas then abruptly cut off by a booming voice that said "60 seconds remaining".

Charlie then fitted the mask over her face once more, cracking her knuckles and readying her board. She gestured hagakure and Iida fo follow her to the left side, the voice booming "thirty seconds remaining" as they made it over.

"Alright this is when lamb sauce comes into play boys," she grinned, pulling an arrow from her quiver.

"Lamb sauce?" Iida questioned, perplexed. Charlie cocked her head, her mask hiding an astonished expression, but before he could speak any further, Charlie charged onto the point yelling "LAAAAMB SAAAUUUUCE" as she drew her bow string, charging it with a electricity before sending it into the ventilation shatter that Julia hid in and removing her from the fight.

Her seemingly endless screeches of 'lamb sauce' echoed through the building as she sent a blast of electricity towards Jirou by flicking a coin at her, letting it hold and release the charge. She then slammed the off button for her board (which was on her thigh) as hard as she could so that it closed, then expelling electricity so that Explody-boy would have to keep his distance.

He expelled a continuous stream of tiny explosions around the point, sending debris towards Charlie in an effort to surround her. She then started up her board once more, the soles of her shoes unfolding as she flew into the air. Charlie then pulled a titanium arrow from her quiver, snapping the end on the bowstring and resting the arrowhead on her finger. She didn't filter any electricity into it—this shot was meant to throw him off. She let the bowstring loose, launching the arrow at Bakugo's face and had it not been for his quick reaction time, the arrow would've gone in his eye.

"KILL THAT MOTHER FUCKER!" She screamed as Iida charged onto the objective and tackled Bakugo, who shook him off after a chaste struggle. Before he could get away, Charlie grabbed Bakugo by the collar of his shirt, granting Iida enough time to tackle him again, this time getting a better grip on him and landing a solid punch to the face.

" **THE LAAAMB SAAAAAAUUUUUCE,"** Charlie roared as a charged bolt of lightning emanated from her body, thoroughly electrocuting Bakugo and knocking him out. As Charlie was... doing her thing..., Iida averted his attention to Jirou who was crouched behind a stray rock and contesting the objective. He seized this opportunity to hop over and pick up up, boosting away from his team. The overtime on the point then ceased, and the match ended.

"HERO TEAM WINS!" The announcer hollered, conforming their victory. Charlie gave one last good yell, before plopping down on the ground with a sigh of relief. Iida looked down at her with either a concerned or perturbed expression—Charlie couldn't quite put her finger on it.

"That was awesome," she whispered before laying there a few more moments then getting up off the ground and walking back to the 'hub' at the middle of the facility.

"EEYY BOYS THE POWER OF LAMB SAUCE!" She screeched in the middle of the crowd, fists pumped in the air triumphantly. The rest of her classmates, most notably Ghala and Emilia, pretended not to know her, avoiding the center of the area all together. Even Aizawa was astonished, eyes widened as he scribbled a few things down on his clip board before announcing the next round.

Charlie gave a casted a sly glance and grin at Julia, which was completely ignored due to her bickering with the explosion kid (wait he's awake?) from yesterday who she'd thoroughly enjoyed pissing off. And it seemed that Julia had also relished in the action as well as she demeaned him even though she didn't even contribute to the fight.

"You're the reason we lost!" He roared, his face contorting with anger. Julia only giggled in response, jogging playfully away as he lunged at her.

"GET BACK HERE! I'LL KILL YOU"

Julia's grin only grew bigger as she took a step toward him. "Nah, you wouldn't do that," she teased. "Besides you can't even touch me, with or without my ability."

"We'll fuckin' see about that!" He threatened, fidgeting with the pins that locked the grenades on his arms.

"Alright, lets go," she jeered, taking a widened stance and bringing two fists near chest as she hopped back and forth, challenging him. The boy mirrored her, except he stretched his arms by his sides and gave Charlie a better view of his pret-ty nice biceps (here we go again). She blamed it on her artistic mind, averting her eyes before they snapped back to their previous focus.

'Damn I gotta ask for his workout' she thought, before pulling out her arrows and counting them. There were 10; she was missing 2, perhaps leaving them in the dorm room. She gave a slight shrug before she slipped them back into the "quiver pocket" (it was actually just a long, closable pocket that was long enough for her arrows to fit in).

The board cut off the footage of the first match, displaying the winning time of 00:00, before flashing up the next two groups, C and D, and readying the 60 second set up time.

—-—-—-—-—-—-—

Khalid surveyed the area, taking in the various nooks and crannies around the objective. Unlike Charlie and Julia's point, which had 3 distinct entrances, the point that Khalid and his team had to hold had one hall down the middle, which was connected to a bridge. The point itself was mounted in the middle of a deep ravine, and it had areas where the edges stuck out, but the jump over couldn't have been made by any normal person.

He sat down in a section that gave him a decent line of sight of both the ravine and the choke (A/N: a choke is basically the main route to go through), building up fences along the perimeter. He then walked toward the entrance and used the cemented floor to wall it off completely, prohibiting any entrance from inside.

Aoyama and Ojiro took defensive positions along the rooftop decently sized holes in the ceiling if an escape was needed. Khalid remained inside the building in the center to allow for coverage on the point.

The 60 second timer came to a close and the clock started—now all they needed to do was wait.

—-—-—-—-—-—-—

"So what's your plan?" asked the frog-like girl, the tip of her tongue loosely hanging on the edge of her mouth. Emilia looked at her blankly, thinking about what she was going to do for a moment before answering, "I don't know. But I do need to get water."

She stopped, facing... Asui was it? She couldn't quite remember. She switch her hold on the surf board to her other arm, then looking back to see if Mineta had fallen behind, for she hadn't seen him with them. He a good way's back, but his little stubby legs could only take him so far. The two waited for him to catch up before they kept walking.

"Do you know where I can find water? Like a lake or lake or something," Emilia asked, brushing a loose strand of hair away from her eyes. Tsuyu brought a finger to her chin, thinking for a moment before responding.

"I think there's some over by the boat, but that's pretty far," she said bleakly, pointing in the direction of the boat. Emilia straightened her posture to stretch out her core and adjusting the tech suit, which was so tight that it was like another layer of skin.

"We'll make it work," she muttered, before breaking into a run, Asui and mineta following behind her.

—-—-—-—-—-—-—

Khalid looked looked up at the timer, squinting to get a better view of it and noticing that 3 minutes had already passed. The other team wasn't there yet so there could be only two possibilities: one, that they were attempting a flanking route through an area where his tea, couldn't see, and two, Emilia was getting water.

' _Damn that's a gamble...w_ ho knows how much water they got here,' he thought, staring off at some so tall edifices in the distance. He then glanced back at the defenses he made, debating on changing them for a moment, but didn't. He sat in solitude, hoping for the best.

—-—-—-—-—-—-—

"T-that's a lot of water," Mineta stammered, fumbling with the hem of his scarf. He turned to Asui who bore her usual blank expression as Emilia emptied the last of the lake and turned to walk away, the water floating just abound her head.

"Well—yeah, it is the entire lake," Asui retorted, flicking an unblinking gaze at him. Mineta flinched slightly as the mass of water above Emilia's head lowered to the ground, settling in front of her in a thin, flat layer. She then set her board on the surface, keeping it from drifting away by moving points of the water to set it into a sort of equilibrium.

"Get on," she ordered before hopping onto the board and nearly falling, though she kept the board to match her stance by moving the water under her.

"W-wait how are we supposed to get on?!" Mineta cried, then checked the timer. "We only have 5 minutes! We have nothing to stand on!"

Emilia raked a hand through her hair as she looked through him, thinking. She never really gave her team mates position to get on the water much thought. She knew Asui could swim, but that was about it.

"Then make your own," she said dryly, raising the water slightly to give Mineta and insensitive to move quickly. He glanced around for a moment before grasping the ball-like structures on his head and laying them out into a small, neat square on the water's surface. Oddly enough, they did not penetrate it—they were almost immune to the water.

Mineta then jumped on top of it, clutching a ball in each of his hands, jerking his neck and gesturing Asui to hop on. Asui stalked over to the mass, but instead of following Mineta's suggestion, dove into the water and treaded underneath to keep herself afloat. Emilia took this as her queue to lift them off the ground, speeding as fast as she could muster.

After about a minute or so, they approached the objective. Emilia noticed that it was large, plain cement building that was mounted in the center of a ravine with two figures—probably people—on the top two corners. And if they were people, the were going to be on the look out. This prompted Emilia to change her point of entry from the front side, to the back side. She stayed low to the ground, following the crevices of cliffs and other mountainous structures until they reached a flanking position behind the building; they were completely blind.

Emilia hovered the mass over a narrow balcony, letting the water spill Asui and Mineta onto the cement surface like a tongue. She remained on her board, widening her stance and poising her mind and body for the attack.

Then the mass of water wrapped into a huge tsunami, thundering down on the objective and destroying the ceiling that kept the enemy safe. Emilia then rose the mass up for another blow, then slammed it down shortly after, crushing everything in its path. The walls shattered under the force of water, creating a flat area for the fight to continue. But before she could do anything she _had_ to look for Khalid. He was the only one who could stop her assault.

—-—-—-—-—-—-—

Khalid rose from his position to ask his teammates if they'd seen anything, but as his lips parted to speak, no sound escaped. Before he could react, a huge mass of water had spiked down on him, sweeping him off his feet and sending him flying into the ravine. Khalid needed to break his fall no matter what, so he too matters in his own hands, literally, forcing the atoms that bound the water together closer, creating a solid surface that wrapped around his body like a cocoon as he crashed to the earth.

Khalid punched his way through the sac, he couldn't waste time, he _had_ to get back to his team. He jumped to his feet and stumbled, but then used that momentum to break into a run. He reached the edge of the cliff, placing his hand against the rocky surface and shifted it under his control. The once stone wall that lay before his hand became a long, seemingly unending ladder that stretched to the mouth of the ravine. Khalid immediately put his hands on the rail and began to climb. He heard the crashing of waved and the crumbling of rock in the distance, and he climbed faster.

'Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.' He swore, praying in the back of his mind that he could make it in time. He sped of his pace until, _finally_ , he reached the edge of the cliff, bending the stone underneath his fingertips to ease himself over, sprinting towards the objective. Well, _that_ is what _would've_ happened if he even made it over—which he didn't. Before his legs even made it over, a spiraling void of water that seemed easily permeable, sent a massive piece of debris flying towards his face, making contact and shattering the glass his lenses into smithereens and sending him falling to the ground, his vision fading into black as he hit the ground.

—-—-—-—-—-—-—

Emilia's eyes darted around the area, and she spotted a dark figure ( **A/N:** _ **yes**_ **Khalid is black, but it is not meant to be racist—that's just how it would look if a dark skinned person was at the bottom of a canyon. i also wanted to use this to preface that because he comes from a low income african american neighborhood, he comes with the sort of accent that comes with "being black". As a venezuelan person, and thereby not black, i am going to have my friend help me with some of his dialogue. I', just really adamant on staying culturally true to one's origin, so hopefully i get it right** )deep down in the ravine.

'There he is' she thought before diverting her attention away from him and pressing her assault on the point, though she had the nagging feeling that something wasn't alright. She snuck another glance at the figure at the bottom of the canyon, before she brushed the thought away.

'It's fine. He's a sturdy guy—he'll be back in no time' she countered to her conscience, though deep down, she knew she was wrong.

Emilia bent the water into a slide like structure, letting her board swiftly take her down to the objective. She shot into the air and the end of her descent, sliding the board from underneath her feet and rolling as she it the ground, cushioning her fall.

She dropped the board on the ground and spread her arms apart, spinning a typhoon of water around her that little could penetrate. A large splash could be seen in the distance, so she upped the speed, dragging small pieces of debris into its wake. The capture progress on the point began to fill as she widened the width of the typhoon, rendering the objective incontestable.

A beam of light suddenly tore through her defenses, but before even a finger could make it through the opening, the capture progress capped, winning Emilia's team the fight.

Emilia then lowered her grip on the mass, letting it crash to the floor with a violent splash that shook the ground beneath her and running over to the edge of the ravine.

"That was impressive," a monotone voice commented. Emilia whipped around to find Asui standing before her. Mineta stuck to her side with a blank expression that bore into Emilia into a state of discomfort. She merely nodded in response before beginning the walk back to where they came, her teammates trailing behind her.

—-—-—-—-—-—-—

Khalid couldn't see. He couldn't move. He could only hear the distant beeping, and the voices of "hang in there" and "you'll be patched up soon" that lingered in his ears for a moment before fleeting away—forgotten.

—-—-—-—-—-—-—

"Woah," Deku breathed, as he jotted some notes down in his journal. He took into account for—well, everything. Emilia had manipulated the water so fluidly and effortlessly; it was like a part of her being. He sketched what he could remember of the waves. How they crashed to the earth with such force, the way the water was like a sword, delivering blow after blow.

He then sketched her costume, or rather lack thereof. She simply wore a red skin tight suit that ran to her knees, the upper straps ending at her shoulders. Her feet were fitted with silver sandals that had strings that coiled up her ankle, the soles of which fitted into her rather small surfboard. It was simple, not enhancing anything, but it was effective.

"Hey, we're next," Todorki said, breaking Deku's train of thought by tapping him on the shoulder. He whipped around and faced Todorki whilst slamming his notebook closed, making a slapping sound with the pages as his rigid composure softened a bit. Deku hopped to his feet, dusting off his backside with a free hand before trotting over to a nearby ledge to set his notebook down.

As Deku trotted over to Todoroki, he caught a glimpse of the enemy which consisted of Yaoyoruzo, Kaminari, and someone else that he didn't quite know the name. He pondered on the thought for a bit, bringing his attention to the conversation that he'd had with Carson a while prior.

" _Kinda like Roy, Leo is useless when he comes back into contact with water. Keep that in mind."_

Deku averted his eyes back at Leo to get a better look at him. The first thing that caught his attention was how mature the boy appeared; he looked older than his peers. He wore a thin sleeved shirt that showed his muscle that was abnormally taut, his skin clinging to every crevice. Like his skin, his hair was pure white, thick and full likely due to the loose curls they were in.

His stature was that of a basket ball player, tall and broad with long limbs and large scarred hands. Though something Deku found unusual were his lack of shoes. His feet were bare and dirty, as if he'd never covered them in his life. In a way, he was like all might—larger than anything around him. But when the boy turned around, Deku immediately threw comparison out the window as soon as he saw his eyes. They were stern, red and slitted—catlike.. like Kacchan, except a bit scarier. Kacchan had a fury in his, but Leo's were blank and malicious without intent.

The two exchanged a glance that made Deku shiver as he turned to follow Todoroki and Sero, trying to shake the uneasy feeling in his stomach as he started towards the arena.

—-—-—-—-—-—-—

 **Hey! Sorry I haven't uploaded to the schedule I said I would, I've just been really busy with my thesis for my On-Ramps English class so that's why my writing** _ **may**_ **seem a little textbooky. I also changed up the summary to make it stand out a little more, since it was pretty bad before. Hopefully it'll catch more attention now lol.**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoy it (critiques and suggestions are always welcome)**

 ***edit: did i just re-upload this draft 3 times because of my nitpicking? yes.**

 **Comments**

 _AnimeAddicts7-_ **i will say I too started crying laughing at that scene, it kinda just came out of my brain thing and I didn't really notice it until I actually began editing it. Charlie is the kind of character to go against the status quo and doing things that sane people wouldn't do (well her behavior in that scene isn't abnormal to her class, but it is for U.A's class)**


	4. How Did You Do That?

***hey its that disclaimer i always forget about! i dont own Bnha because if i did, things would be a LOT more depressing...**

Chapter 4: How did you do that?

"Do you want to hold the left side Sero?" Deku asked, scanning the area. The objective itself was fairly flat and simple, most of the complexity was in the ceiling with all of the pipes and bars and wires that hung around loosely. He walked out of the front entrance to check for one thing: a body of water. And his wishes were fulfilled, as off to the side, not very far from where Deku was standing was a fairly deep lake that was surrounded by trees and other plants, none of which were very tall except for a large voluminous tree who's roots were ran into the water.

"Okay... so Sero and I get him into the lake, Todoroki can block him off with a wall and _that_ should buy us enough time for the clock to run out. It all just depends on how efficient they are," Deku mumbled to himself, pointing to the areas that were most crucial to his scheme. He gave himself a quick thumbs up and, with a deep breath, he walked back over to his teammates and took the right side while he suggested that Todoroki take the middle.

Deku thought about his plan for a moment, pondering whether or not is was necessary. He didn't know if Leo was even dangerous, yet he was acting like he was a forced to be reckoned with. It was likely the tone had Carson said it in or... Leo himself—his eyes. Their appearance didn't sit well with him, and the more he thought about it, the more he tried to push it into the back of his mind until the thought faded altogether.

"Guys," he began, causing Sero and Todoroki to snap their heads toward him, devoting every ounce of their attention to what he had to say. "I have a plan."

"What is it," Sero inquired, quirking a brow.

"Well before this match started, I spoke with an American intern and he said that Leo—the white haired guy on the enemy team—was useless around water. So I'm thinking if we get him into the water, his team will have to go get him and that will probably take up most of their time so they won't be able to coordinate properly. So, Sero, you and I can take him on and once we get him into the water, Todorki can wall him off and keep him there and you can fight the other team if they don't go to get him, but I doubt they'd do that."

"Sounds good," Todoroki affirmed, extending his arm out in front of him as the timer had already begun ticking down.

—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

Leo ran his fingers between one another, locking them together and bending over so that his arms swayed over his head as he began to roll out his shoulders. The sound of his elbows and wrists popping elicited a disgusted 'ugh' from a yellow haired boy from his team, but he paid no mind to it.

He then stood up straight, cracking his knuckles as he hopped a few times to loosen his tense legs. He then pulled his feet behind him, alarmingly high and close to his back as he relaxed his ankles, a loud _pop_ could be heard as he tugged at them sharply.

"My Rosca-san—," Yaoyoruzo began, as he set his feet down. Leo gave a huff of irritation as he heard his last name.

"No need for the formalities, just call me Leo," he said firmly, running a hand through his loose curls as he began to walk toward the objective.

"Well uh, Ro-I mean—Leo, what do you propose we do? They seemed to have built a wall made from ice so going through the front is pointless—"

"No it isn't."

"W-what?"

They stood in front of the ice wall and it seemed quite sturdy, but soon it would be broken. Leo stood back a bit, giving his long legs room to deliver a swift kick at the surface, splintering the ice sheet like a shattered window. He stepped in, quickly scooping up and pulling in his teammates along with him as more sheets of ice sprawled from the ground.

Leo crouched down on the ground, contracting his legs and pushing off the ground with a force that stressed cracks onto the cement under his feet, send them into the air. He quickly found an area of the ceiling to latch onto: a sturdy pipe that he initially grabbed with his toes, but then slipped his legs through then relaxing them so he didn't put so much weight on the metal (he was heavy enough as is).

Leo felt his blood begin to pool in his head—it didn't irritate him, but he was sure it abrade at his teammates a bit. He dropped Kaminari (so that was his name..) from his arm, barely catching the collar of his jacket between his toes as he swung his other leg from the pipe, and using as much strength as he could muster to gain a bit momentum to solidly grip the pipe in his hand. He then dropped Kaminari to the ground, followed by himself, then Yaoyoruzo.

"What the hell dude!" The boy cried, flailing around as if to find his sense of direction. Leo merely rolled his eyes, narrowing them as they met Kaminari's.

"Quit gawking like—" he was cut off my a large, spiked sheet of ice shooting towards him. Leo in turn, threw himself forward, grabbing the spike at the end for support as he flipped over and dug his feet into the cold surface when he landed. "An idiot and get moving," he finished, stomping forward to shatter the ice that climbed up his legs. He then used this opportunity to charge toward the boy in the middle of the objective that was creating the ice to war him off.

He stomped through the ice and cement to keep himself from slipping, grabbing onto each and every surface that was thrown at him, almost like a monkey. When he stepped onto the objective, that he was faced with another obstacle: tape. It bound his limbs together, but he swiftly broke through the thin fiber pressed his assault. The ice that followed him turned into his weapon—he tore it in large quantities and began hauling it at the enemy, throwing them off as he waited for a bigger piece to block of the side entrances. But suddenly, the ice began growing more rapidly and from more directions, along with the tape that quite literally flew into the mix, than he could keep track of and he was forced to dodge.

He soon realized they were backing him out of the objective and to the lake nearby. They _knew_.. _somehow_...

Leo then began to keep track of his surroundings more, tearing off large chunks of ice that he threw into the water to break his fall if need be. A nimble spike of ice, roughly the length of two football fields, poked out toward him and Leo instinctively grabbed the edge and began to slide down the surface, extending his arms at his sides to balance his large stature. Suddenly, when he was about set foot on the ground, a large burst of raging flames hurled towards him and he was forced to flip upward to dodge, but instead of sticking the landing, he was met with a flash of green light and a blow that cracked ribs and shattered the ice completely, sending him flying into the lake.

It was far enough where, if he landed in the thick rooted trees that grew into the lake, he could get back to the bank. But before he could do anything more, the banks were unreachable. They'd been blocked off by a smooth sheet of ice with that gave him no surface to latch onto

So he fell.

He broke the surface of the water—but never came back up.

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-

Deku clutched his broken arm to his chest in pain. He hadn't used a 100 percent Detroit Smash in a long time. He noticed that his arm wasn't bruised—his skin seemed normal, but he still could feel the sensation that it was broken somehow.

'At least it's gotten better' he thought bitterly as he let go, his arm falling to his side.

"Are you okay?" Todoroki asked, worry etched on his face. Deku nodded, extending his limp forearm towards him.

"I'm gonna need ice.."

"Sero, wrap your tape around his arm to make a cast. I'll surround it with ice."

Sero nodded, following Todorki's directions and tightly wrapping tape around Deku's arm. Todoroki then examined it for a moment before he added the layer of ice over it to cool it down.

"Okay it should be fine now," Deku breathed as he ran his fingers around the smooth surface. He then turned to Todoroki, offering him a soft smile.

"Thanks."

Todoroki returned the gesture. "No problem. Just don't go getting yourself beat up like that."

" _Right_..."

—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-

"Oh my god he just fell into the lake!" Kaminari screamed. Yaoyoruzo gave shot him a chaste, but sharp glare that was so quick that he probably didn't even notice.

"Yes he _did._ Now hurry up, we need to get moving, he could've drowned," she scolded, sprinting for the margin of the wall.

"Where are we going?" He asked between breaths. Momo crafted a small hair clip that kept her bangs away from her face before she answered him.

"We're going to the end of the wall. I'm certain that they didn't wrap it all the way around because they knew that Leo couldn't function in water like that. If we make it to him fast enough, we can give him CPR and go from there," she answered. Kaminari nodded, picking up his pace and meeting her with a hardened expression.

"Yeah. Let's help him," he affirmed. Momo nodded with a smile and quickened her run in turn.

The two reached the edge of the wall faster than expected, approaching a shallow beach that was littered with shards of ice. Momo instinctively began looking for Leo and found him quite easily due to his albinism. He was nearby, his head propped up on a piece of ice, the rest of his body floating loosely in the water.

Momo and Kaminari trudged through the water and were surprised that they could still stand, albeit barely, when they reached Leo. The two dragged him back to the beach laying him flat on his back as Yaoyoruzo began her chest compressions.

"Kaminari! Give him a shock right here to move his diaphragm!" She ordered, pointing to a region in his stomach area. He did as she said, sending a steady, and fairly strong current to his abdominal region, but it didn't work.

"It isn't working," he told her bitterly, looking around his body. "I might try his lungs.."

"NO DON'T! You could hurt his—" she was cut off by Kaminari sending the shock through Leo's body. And this time his eyes fluttered open.

—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

Leo felt air flow into his lungs. He gasped to feed his hunger for air, for life. He lurched forward violently as he coughed up the water that still remained inside of him, but soon regained his composure.

"How...how low was I out," he panted, his slitted pupils dilating.

"Quite long," Yaoyoruzo answered him calmly, though the trembling I her fingers indicated otherwise. "Four minutes at least."

At this Leo shot upward, ignoring the pain in his ribs as he scooped Kaminari and Yaoyoruzo in his arms, sprinting for the objective. The ground cracked under his feet as if they belonged to a beast larger then him, but his gait returned to normal as he approached the entrance. He then wriggled out of his shirt, wringing the water out of it before draping it over his shoulder.

"Yaoyoruzo," he began sternly, though his eyes were soft and thankful. "I need carbon fiber rope. I also need two chains—each 10 feet long."

She nodded, doing as he said, handing him the rope, then letting the chains flow from her body, to the ground. Leo took the them, looping them around his shoulders. He then turned the corner over toward the side entrance to the objective, gesturing his teammates to follow him.

The three stood outside the edge of the objective, hidden behind the wall, poised to attack.

Leo now knew his targets and what they were capable of, who he had to go for first and how. He grabbed the tip of the chain on his right arm, letting it drape to the floor. He checked for any tangles, and seeing that there were none, he struck.

Leo lunged, whipping the chain out and shackled the half-headed boy by his abdomen—the chain wrapping around him like a python. The boy was cut completely off guard, since by the time Leo snapped the chain back, bringing the boy toward him, he'd done nothing. Leo pinned him down with his foot, grabbing the damp shirt from his shoulder before violently jerking the boy upright and tying the shirt around his eyes, blinding him. He then pulled out the carbon fiber rope from his pocket and bound the boy's wrists together in a chaste surgical knot that Charlie had taught him a while back. He then slipped the chain from the boy's body, dropping it on the floor before scooping the boy up and hurling him away from the objective.

The tape-boy with the odd elbows attacked him next, attempting to immobilize him with it. Leo didn't dodge this time; he waited for the right moment and grabbed the pieces of tape, being sure not to tear them. He then yanked the boy toward him then planted a kick in his abdomen, broken bones could be felt under his feet. He was sent flying, out of sight and in no condition to fight so Leo then averted his attention to the boy he wanted to battle the most: the one that shone with a gleaming, white aura.

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-

Deku shuddered at the state of his team. In less than a minute they were completely disposed of—they weren't coming back. Only Leo was left standing, mostly unscathed if it weren't for the large bruise on his bare chest, likely from Deku's own punch. He was hunched over, limbs hanging loosely like monkey as he dropped his chains to the floor and turned to face him.

The moment their eyes made contact, Deku couldn't breathe. Something caught in his throat as he saw Leo's. Their slits were so thin that they almost weren't there. They were enraged, yet curious. He seemed to want to fight him all out—no holding back.

Deku exhaled and regained his composure, taking a fighting stance with a nervous smile.

"I'm ready."

He waited for Leo to charge at him, barely dodging a swift kick over his head. Leo didn't leave himself open for very long, the moment he missed he continued his movement with another, making him harder to track. But Deku found a tiny window of opportunity after his second kick and he charged up a punch, green energy crackling around his body.

 _100 PERCENT DETROIT SMASH_

But instead of making contact, Leo swiftly dodged the punch, likely knowing that it would hurt him. He swayed violently due to the gust of wind that Deku's punch produced, nearly falling over before digging his feet into the cement to keep his balance.

Deku stumbled forward from his missed punch, then found _his_ balance. Before he could make another move, Leo suddenly appeared in front of him striking him with a hard kick to the ribs, and the pain was unlike anything he'd ever felt before, outside of one for all and an explosion that from a fight with Bakugo. The scar was still there, right on his back—a reminder of the closest thing to reconciliation the two could ever achieve.

His ribs shattered, broke edges digging into the backside of his organs as he hit the wall with a violent thud. The anterior portion of his chest was completely destroyed, and Leo didn't seem to struggle, or even put in much effort into the kick—it almost seemed natural to him. Deku was sent quite high, because when he hit the ground, all sight and hearing and taste and touch faded into nothing.

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

Uraraka could only watch as the white skinned boy thrashed Deku's team around like rag dolls, disposing of them all swiftly and efficiently. Uraraka figured that he relished in combat until she got a better look at his face: it was blank, but his eyes were enraged, the slits barely visible. He seemed to want Deku to go all out, given that he dropped the chains midway through the fight. But at the end of it all, she only saw a disappointed expression on his face, as if he wasn't satisfied with his results.

'You didn't even let him fight' she seethed in her mind, an angry blush heating her cheeks. And it infuriated her even more when the boy didn't even help him up—he just _left_ him there and walked away. It was _his_ own teammates that picked Deku up and carried him away from the camera, presumably to Recovery Girl.

Uraraka heard the distant rattling of chains and whipped around to where she heard the sound. She saw the boy in front of her, his chest bare and chains looped over his neck. He stumbled forward as someone ran into him, she couldn't quite see who it was before he pivoted to the side. It was Todoroki. Blinded and bound.

She could only grit her teeth to channel her anger as she watched her friend wander around sightless. Though she was soon put ease (slightly) when he was stopped by a pair of large white hands on his shoulders to steady the boy before removing his blindfold, which happened to be a damp shirt, and the rope that bound his wrists together.

"Thanks." Todoroki said rubbing his wrists to ease the pain. The boy merely nodded his head as he turned and walked away, but not before whispering something inaudible to Todorki who didn't seem to get a reaction from it.

She watched as an unconscious Sero was carried in who showed minimal damaged apart from a dark footprint on his chest and a drop of blood that trickled from his lips and down his chin.

Deku seemed to be about the same, but on closer inspection, it was quite the contrary. His arm has one dark purple bruise in the center, and his chest caved in on one side, likely from the broken ribs. He had a massive, bloody bruise on his forehead and like sero, had blood dropping from between his lips.

"That's Leo for you," said a halfhearted voice. Uraraka turned to see Roy sitting next to her with a lopsided and toothless smile. It was solemn in a way.

"What do you mean," she choked out, on the verge of tears.

Roy frowned. "He just.. destructive. I mean—we all are if you haven't noticed, but, he's just...the bloodiest."

He paused for a moment, seeming to notice the single, worried tear that rolled down her cheek.

"I... He's a good guy. He may come off as harsh and strict and hateful, but he's a good person. Even if he doesn't show it," he assured her, trying his best at a grin. He seemed to understand Uraraka wasn't convinced, so he spoke further.

"He isn't a monster."

Uraraka's eyes widened at his sudden statement. "What? I didn't say—"

"But you were thinking about it," I fired back, his gaze now hardened.

"I told you, he isn't a monster. He's got weaknesses—emotional ones," he added, adjusting the badges on his uniform.

"What kind..?" Uraraka pried, though she knew her question wouldn't lead to anything.

"Even as his best friend," he began proudly. "I do not know what runs through his head."

Roy gave her a solemn smile before brushing a strand from his eyes and rising to his feet he began toward the arena, Uraraka following close behind. She noticed that he wore a long black trench coat that looked like it was decades older than he. It stretched down to his ankles, barely above the ground and yet despite its lack of leverage, was quite tidy and clean. The long strap that would've clung the jacket to his body trailed loosely behind him, kind of like a tail _._

They soon approached the entrance to the objective and were met with annoyed stares from their teammates that soon softened as they took their positions.

The point was an open field surrounded by distant buildings, so there wasn't much to defend. It was a a plaza of sorts, but it was very bland and lifeless, not an ounce of care was poured into the design. It was merely a cement square with a few lampposts here and there, accompanied by wooden benches.

Roy threw himself on a bench, the boards squeaking loudly under his weight. He propped his arm on the railing and crossed his legs, silent as he stared off into the distance. Uraraka, with great hesitation, stepped over to him and poking her finger at his shoulder.

"Hey you okay?" She asked, swaying sideways to be at eye level with him. He flinched, stripping his thoughts away from his attention.

"Yeah I'm fine. Just tired," he admitted, craning his neck to the sky and sighing deeply. "We had deer for dinner last night and I got stuck cleaning the mess up."

"Oh."

"Leo _did_ do the favor of eating the bone though," he assured, quickly raising a defensive hand. "I honestly don't know how he does it," he added with a deep chuckle before swinging both of his legs onto the bench and resting them on the other end as he waited for the enemy, opening his mouth to yawn as his eyes closed.

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-

"Okay so! What's the plan," Kirishima cheered, sporting the biggest grin he could to ease a tense Ghala, who seemed to already be emotionally worn out by Ashido's endless spiral of questions. But despite the tense atmosphere, she spoke.

"I might lay out seeds on the perimeter and surround them—or us. It really depends on the situation," she said flatly as she opened a large makeup back that was filled with not cosmetics, but large packets of seeds. She had all shapes and sizes ranging from small vegetable seeds, to large acorns, which she cupped in her palm before closing the bag.

"So like, is your quirk to grow stuff really fast?" Ashido asked, peering over her forearm to catch a glimpse of the acorns. Ghala did not answer her question, only shaking Ashido off like a pest and walking away.

"Jeez," Kirishima grimaced, reluctantly following his team toward the objective.

Following Shoji's lead, the group stumbles up on a plaza that sported little foliage and was lined neatly with benches and lights along the perimeter. The enemy had taken their position around a large marble fountain in the center of the courtyard, shifting as the group moved. They all stood in a position where if there was anyone behind the fountain, the couldn't see due to the bodies of their opposition obscuring their view. Both teams were in plain sight of each other, so there was no point in hiding or making an attempt to do so, as it would only draw time away.

"What do you propose we do?" Ghala asked Shoji, paying no mind to her teammates. He folded his arms in thought and Kirishima mimicked the gesture, whipping up a few ill minded strategies in his head.

We could try pressuring them from all sides and you put the seeds down and do what you need to do," he suggested through the mouth on one of his arms. Despite the long time that Kirishima had known him, he still couldn't get used to it.

"Alright let's go!" He exclaimed, the rough skin on his outer arm hardening like a rock. The rest nodded, following Shoji's lead.

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

"Are you going to keep sleeping there?" The cloaked boy asked, breaking Roy's musing and forcing his eyes open.

"Hmm.. I could've used a few more minutes," he joked, swinging his feet to the ground and slipping off silk gloves to reveal pale, calloused hands. The boy gave a hefty sigh before walking to the fountain, the shadow inside him poking from between a crack in the cloth.

Roy remained on the bench, his eyes darting around the room, watching for any of the enemy's movements. He saw a small speck jump over a bush, but soon that speck burst open revealing the tangling limbs of a tree that shot out towards a boy who was calling for the birds in the distance.

He instinctively leapt forward, sprinting over to the boy and wrapping his hands around his waist and tugging him away from the growing plant. The two fell to the ground due to Roy's sudden action, but recovering when the roots began to dig their way into the ground and began to spread.

' **Thaaat's** Ghala' he confirmed to himself, whirling around to look for her, but to no avail. Roy kept his attention to the roots, his eyes tracking were they climbed where from. He felt something strike his back sharply but before he could turn to see what it was, roots bound his legs and body, bringing his limbs together as they climbed on him and began to squeeze.

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

Ghala knew she'd captured her prey when she heard the pained yell from someone— likely Roy— on the enemy team. She juggled the acorns that were still in her hands, then handed one to Kirishima so that he would throw it. It hit the ground, skipping a few times before it hit the edge of the fountain, nearly in the water. Roots burst from the sea and sprawled onto the fountain, twisting and squeezing against the marble like a python. They creeped down to the ground, crawling across the concrete and giving little space to stand.

A boy with a peculiar triangular shaped head was stopped by the roots as they slithered up his ankles and up his body, binding and shackling him. He gave out a cry for help, his voice unusually loud. It was followed by a storm of insects that caused him to go pale, but he still mustered the command to bite through the roots. They followed his order, burrowing themselves in the thick flesh of the roots.

Ghala smirked at his efforts, only replenishing and healing the gashes in the plants, completely canceling their futile attempts. And the boy seemed to realize this too, as he gave a quiet command of retreat before ceasing his struggle together.

'He's going for a distraction—no doubt about that' she thought, narrowing her eyes at him 'I wager I can take the gamble though'

She then dragged her attention away to a shadowy man with a long cloak. She threw another not an acorn but a small bunch of poison ivy seeds in a gloved hand. The roots crawled up his body, wrapping around his arms and legs, all around his torso and head, and even on the shadow beneath his cloak. They boy himself recoiled in pain, but the shadow did not, only shooting outward and attacking Ghala, catching her off guard and nearly knocking her over. She fixed her stance, throwing another acorn, however this time, the shadow caught it in his mouth. This only made her job easier, allowing her to grow the roots from inside it's mouth and out around his face, effectively blinding him.

There was one final team member she had to shackle—but they were nowhere to be seen.

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

Uraraka hung in the air having a birds-eye view of the entire thing. The plaza was completely disfigured, the solid concrete was replaced by the intricate weaving of deformed trees and vines replacing it. It looked like the forest from some sick, twisted fairy tale.

Uraraka felt a bile rise, though not from her ability, but more so from nervousness. She didn't know what to do.

What would Deku do?

What _would_ Deku do?

What would I—

She thought for a moment, her eyes scanning the area and she found it. The their team. They were separated by the mass of roots—she could take them out one by one. Of course Kirishima was a no go, but she could try taking Ashido and _maybe_ Shoji, but still— at one of their team members would be taken out.

She followed the drift of the wind, keeping still as to not exhaust herself, and hovered over Ashido who was tunneling through the foliage with the acid from her fingertips. Uraraka touched the tips of her fingers together releasing her quirk and falling to the ground, but not before hooking her arm around the neck and dragging her down. Uraraka pushed herself upward, grabbing Ashido's wrist and shoving her to the ground, apprehending her.

"Ochako?!" She cried out in surprise, though Uraraka didn't answer. She merely twisted her arm further before floating her upward until she didn't touch any of the roots. She then tapped her thigh, floating herself upward to get a view of the battlefield and spotting Roy bound in the tree roots and conversing with shoji, who'd just planted a firm punch in his cheek. Roy didn't waver, he stood there and took the punch.

Uraraka lowered herself to get the jump on Shoji, though she still hovered in the air a bit.

"You can't move. Give up," he deadpanned as he spread his arms, all of which were connected together like the webbed feet on a duck.

Roy merely gave a hearty chuckle, blowing some of the hair out of his eyes before taking a large gulp of air and holding it. He then craned his body upward, tucking his head inward to lower it towards the roots that bound him. Then he exhaled, and with his breath came a blaze unlike any other.

Fire spilled from the boy's mouth, dripping onto the branches and burning away his binds. Surprisingly his clothes remained intact, the flames dancing across his shoulders and down his arms. He lifted his arm, aiming it directly at Shoji as his fingers pulled into a sharp snap that sent an ember flying at him, striking him with a low rumble as the fire burst to life. Shoji recoiled in pain, dropping to the ground and clutching his chest.

Roy averted a pair of cold blue eyes down at him, merely walking past him and disregarding the boy as he removed his jacket and rolling up his sleeves and letting a blazing inferno course throughout his body, completely drowning his figure in flames.

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

Ghala's heart sunk as soon as the low rumble of fire found its way into her ears. There was no way— _no way—_ that she could lose.

Or could she..?

No. She wouldn't fail. For the sake of her image, had to win. Ghala dug into her bag and rummaging through it, pulling out the most toxic plant she could find: atropabelladona. If she grew the berries to a large enough size, she could then burst them manually to poison her target into a deep sleep, or even kill them. It was her trump card (or at least one), and it was often effective.

Key word, _Often._

As she threw out the berries, Roy had stripped off his shirt, swiping his hands sharply against his bare torso, lighting more intense flames around him. He stomped a foot on the ground, the flames expanding at a breakneck speed with an intense tailwind following behind it. It was like a typhoon of fire with him in the middle, consuming all life in its path including the atropabelladona that Ghala had thrown.

''No..."she pleaded aloud, frustrated tears welling in her eyes. "No, no, no, no, no, no _,_ _ **no...**_ "

Her trees, suffocating under the fire and smoke, ceasing to exist.

Ghala broke. She stood motionless the field as she saw a particular shape emerge from the blaze.

It was Roy. He was enveloped in an aura of fire that, despite its power, seemed quite docile likely from the expression he held upon his face. One of sorrow and...and...

 _ **Pity.**_

Ghala hated that look she always gave him. She _hated_ it. It made her feel weak, inferior—lesser than he. He stalked up to her, flames dancing around him and extended his arms for a snap.

"Are you sure you wanna do this?" He asked, a bitter expression on his face. Ghala gritted her teeth and lunged at him furiously before stopping altogether due to the flames before her.

''How dare you **pity** me'' she gritted, barely able to keep her composure. In a blind rage she grabbed the acorns from a bag and winded up a throw before stopping and then faltering her arm to her side. Her fingers lost their grip on the seeds and they fell to the floor as tears threatened to to spill over.

"Please Ghala, I don't want to burn you," he begged. Ghala said nothing as one drop—only one— flowed down her cheek and on to the cement, though it didn't look like he could see it.

"Don't **patronize** me," she spat, as roots crawled over her body.

"I'm not patronizing Ghala, I wouldn't wanna burn _anyone_."

Ghala raised her lowered head to take a look at the battlefield. It was all under a mighty blaze that consumed everything in it's path. Even Roy's teammates (and her own) had to evacuate themselves due to the smoke.

It was over. She failed.

"Fine," she sobbed, though no tears came out. She then turned away and walked off of the objective, the flap of fire ringing in her ear.

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

The ring of silence filtered through this ears, dictating his surroundings. But all he could see was an empty darkness. Thoughts of painting and family and love tried to pry their way into his mind, but couldn't. He simply layer there, motionless. His willing eyes not opening.

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

 _Tick. Tick. Tick_

Deku's eyes fluttered open at the sound. The ceiling above him was a familiar white with ivory borders to from squares.

' _Guess I'm here again huh_ ' he thought absentmindedly, a tired smile creeping it's way onto his face. He lifted his unbandaged arm, considering for a moment before propping his weight on his elbow and quietly hoisting himself into a sitting a position to look around him. He saw that the room was mostly untouched except for a few papers next to him, presumably his health records. Directly across from him was a small wooden table a handmade turquoise vase sitting on top of it. It had sunflowers, ferns, and other tiny white flowers all beautifully arranged in it. It seemed like something his mother would make, but it also didn't. He wasn't quite sure.

He then averted his attention to his right, at his bandaged arm. Surprisingly, the wrapping itself wasn't too dense, just a thick sand colored fabric wrapped tightly around his arm. He ran a finger over it until he was startled by the sound of a piece of paper. He instinctively looked up and saw that Leo, of all people, was curled up in the chair in front of him reading a book title 'Nietszeche'.

''Isn't that a philosopher?'' He questioned under his breath, inaudible to even himself, though Leo must have heard him since he lowered the book enough for his slitted eyes to peer over the pages.

"You're awake."

Deku shuddered, nervous under his presence and startled by his voice. "Yeah I guess so..." he said, smiling sheepishly. Leo remained silent, fumbling around the desk to look for something, perhaps a bookmark. When he didn't find anything, he folded a the corner of a page, closing the book and setting it on the table. He leaned forward, resting his arms on his knees to be at eye level with Deku.

"How did you do that?" he began, genuinely confused. "Break my bones."

Deku stared at him with widened eyes. He glanced across the room at the flowers as if they'd give him the words to respond to Leo's question.

"What do you mean by that?" He asked, trying to sound as self-assured as possible. Leo's expression softened a bit as he edged forward a bit more.

"My bones aren't like your bones," he said, pointing to the skeleton by on table, next to his book, with his thumb. "They aren't hollow and they're made of dentin which is three times stronger than bone."

Deku's lips parted slightly, shocked. "But you wouldn't be able to walk.."

"That's what the strength is for," Leo deadpanned, drumming his fingers against his knees.

"They must not be that easy to break, huh.." Deku thought out loud, and to his surprise, Leo nodded in affirmation.

"Only people of my tribe can break my bones."

"Tribe?" Deku asked, leaning closer to the edge of the bed inquisitivel, like a child. Leo nodded, though he didn't look like he wanted to elaborate, or rather that he didn't know.

"Yes. They live in the tigers nest in Bhutan and have territory in the mountains in the snow. That's all I know," he elaborated, observing Deku as if to piece together the functions of his quirk.

"Wow—that's..that's awesome! You're awesome," Deku breathed. Leo seemed to be genuinely surprised by the compliment, since his usually narrow and stern eyes widened. He gave no verbal thanks though, only nodding in response and rubbing the back of his neck as a nervous blush tinged the tips of his ears. Deku smiled slightly at the gesture, as it seemed to be very unlike him.

"But back to my question," he redirected with a cough, regaining his stern composure. "How?"

"Well..." Izuku began, his eyes wandering around the room and back to the flowers to search for words. "I.. just used a fully charged punch—a 100 percent punch— I guess. It's hard to explain."

Leo narrowed his eyes at Izuku's response, likely unconvinced by it. "Your ability—it has a white energy to it. Where does that come from?" He pried, his inquiry a bit more forceful.

"Wait white? The energy that comes off of it is green—"

"I can't see color."

"Oh."

Leo narrowed his his eyes to sway Deku into answering his question. "W-well I'm honestly not sure where it comes from," he admitted nervously, his heart beating against his chest as a black energy crawled up his arm around his hand. Leo noticed almost instantly.

"So you have 2 abilities.." he observed as he examined the black substance.

"Uh well it's more of a branch of my quirk.. like a hidden part of it," he elaborated. "I'm honestly not sure if it myself. It showed up when I was a first year, but it spun out of control so I never used it again. I was more focused on my combat prowess and getting used to the regular form of my quirk."

Leo stayed silent, his eyes rolling over Deku's body, analyzing it. He raked a hand through his loose curls before relaxing his expression.

"Frankly you don't deserve it," he seethed, red eyes staring into Deku's soul and picking him apart. "Your combat is awful—you don't know how what you're doing."

Leo leaned in closer averting his eyes to the door then back at Deku, his piercing gaze still lingering. "It seems your teacher doesn't teach."

Deku's lips pursed together into a thin, white line. He tried not to protest as to not anger Leo whilst he was this vulnerable state. But he failed

"Mr. Aizawa _does_ teach. You don't know what you're talking about," Deku fired back confidently, surprising Leo slightly.

"Who taught you how to use your ability?" He asked firmly, a low growl grumbling in his throat.

Deku didn't hesitate to answer in the heat of the argument, "All Might."

Leo merely huffed in response, followed by a ghost of a chuckle as he rose from his seat. He stood, towering over Deku, leaning over him and picking up the papers on the desk next to the IV.

"He's not a good mentor if your bones still fracture," he hissed, slamming the papers into Deku's lap then walking towards the window and opening it, giving him a sharp glare as he disappeared over the edge.

Deku could hear the faint sound of footsteps that edged toward his door. A head—Carson's head— poked inside, scanning the room, and when his eyes met Deku's, a vibrant blush pooled in his cheeks. He quickly yanked his head out of sight—saying but a word.

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

Khalid's eyes fluttered open as he sucked in a deep breath. He inhaled and exhaled rapidly a few times before his breathing stabilized and he calmed down. His vision was blurry, he could barely see the figured of furniture and people walking around, one of which walked towards him and slipped his glasses on his face, which allowed him to see.

It was Charlie.

"Ay wassup Charlie.." he greeted weakly in his supine position, which allowed little view his surroundings. Charlie hopped onto the foot of the hospital bed, removing her boots before pulling her legs into a criss-cross position directly across from him.

"I'm fine," she assured, then quirked a joking brow. "Question is 'how are _you?'"_

Khalid chuckled slightly at her statement, straightening his posture to imply that he was mostly okay. "I'm good. Hit ma' head pretty hard."

" _Duh_ , you fell into a ravine—of COURSE you hit you head hard dumbass," she joked, flicking his forehead playfully.

"Maaaan I'm hungry as shit," he exhaled, resting his head in his palm. Charlie gave him a confused look as she scooted some hair away from eyes.

"Code or—" she began, faltering as he shook his head no.

"Nah. I an't (haven't) in like 3 (hours)," he added with a ghost of a laugh, running a hand over his spongy hair.

"Oh lol," Charlie responded getting up off the bed and starting towards the door, leaving her gear behind. "I'll get some food. They got teriyaki today so I'll just snag some of that."

"Aight."

Charlie the closed the door behind her as she left towards the cafeteria, and almost on queue, his phone rang.

 _Mama_

" _Aww shit.."_ he mumbled as he swiped the screen to answer. The other line was filled with the sound of cleaning dishes and screaming children.

"I swear to-god if 'lil bitch don (doesn't) pick up imma beat his—" a woman began, a rough vernacular accent in her voice.

"Ma—"

"KHALID WHERE YO ASS AT? NANA'S COMIN DOWN AN' YOU AINT HERE! YO ASS BETTER NOT BE DOIN DRUGS—"

"Ma I'm not doing drugs. I'm outta-da country," he tried to explain, though to no avail. The woman paused for a moment before speaking again.

"Imma repeat myself: WHERE. YO ASS. AT"

"Japan. We're doin' a—"

"NI**A WHY YO ASS IN _JAPAN?!"_ his mother screamed. Khalid pulled the phone away from his ear, putting it on speaker phone and lowering the volume to give his ears mercy.

"Is-some kinda diplomatic trip. Only colonel was gon' go, but he didn't wanna leave us behind."

"Oh so it's that shit on da news," his mother remarked, calming down a bit, though Khalid still kept the phone away from his ear.

"Yeah.."

"Listen," his mother began softly. "You be safe okay?"

"Yeah, I will."

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

 **Yay! I'm late again! But in all seriousness, the last part of this chapter was a blast to write, and the hardest. It was honestly just having my friend look over my work and edit the speech a little. With accents like those I'm going to write how it** _ **sounds**_ **not what they're saying exactly (though I will put it in parentheses if need be).**

 **I also wanted to preface that Khalid has that accent because he grew up in a run down African American neighborhood in Detroit, Michigan. So there's going to be some conflict between him and his parents about his career because of that (ooooo juicy).**

 **Sooo yeah! Hope you like it!**

 **Comments**

AnimeAddicts7: **I'm really glad to keep up with the story as well! It's so much fun to write and I'm glad you like it!**


	5. Secrets

~ **bold:** regular = text

' _Italics' - thoughts_

 _Italics=_ emphasis _or a past event_

 **Bold-** emphasis, or super loud noises/talking

Chapter 5: Secrets

Carson quickly dragged his head out of the room as soon as he saw Izuku. His body was glued to the wall adjacent to the open door, just far enough to where he couldn't be seen. He slid against the wall, down on to the floor, his head hanging between his knees as he gripped his wrist.

"UGGGGGHHHHH," he groaned, leaning back at the wall as his hands slid down his face.

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

"Hey Kacchan!"

Bakugo whirled around to see who spoke of that dreaded nickname; it was none other than Julia.

"Who the hell said you could call me that?" He scoffed, glaring daggers at her. Julia put a finger to her chin in thought, swaying from side to side in a slow, consistent rhythm.

"Well that curly haired kid called you that," she said, wriggling her fingers above her head to imitate Midoryia's hair, to which Bakugo recoiled with a hardened scowl. "It's a lot easier to say—got less syllables."

"Well don't fucking call me that again," he spat, turning to leave. Surprisingly, Julia didn't constrain him, instead she skipped up him and following his pace with a beaming smile. Bakugo merely quickened his pace, but she did in turn. She didn't speak, she only kept walking next to him with that same smile plastered on her face.

"What the hell do you want?" He snapped, Julia's smile faltered with widened blue eyes.

"Hmm, nothin' really. Just wanted to hang out with you for a bit," she responded, that overly friendly smile creeping it's way back onto her face.

"Well _I_ don't, so get lost loser," he barked, turning his face away from her to avoid her view.

"Gee, that's mean. I was really hoping that we'd become friends!" She jeered, likely to piss him off even more.

" _Friends_? Who the hell said that?" He sneered, sarcasm evident in his tone. Julia simply shrugged the question off, continuing to walk wit him.

"Eh, no one really," she admitted, pulling the hair-tie that kept her bun together and letting her tattered blonde hair fall to her shoulders.

"Then get lost."

Julia pivoted her head to pop her neck with a resounding crack that made Bakugo grimace slightly. She then rose off the ground, her short stature meeting his as she looked a friendly arm around his shoulder.

" _Nah,"_ she said flatly. She removed her arm from Bakugo's shoulders, still hovering, and rummaged through a pocket in her jogging pants, pulling out two massive lollipops. She gestured one at him, cocking her head slightly.

"Want one? They're warhead lollipops."

"Huh? Warheads?" He questioned, genuinely confused about the unusual brand of candy, though the name did sound pretty badass. Julia passed one of the into her other hand, pulling the wrapper off the sweet with her ability before popping it in her mouth.

"Yeah. They're shour—really shour," she beamed, some drool making its way down her chin as she more insistently motioned the lollipop at him. Bakugo reached for it, then paused and retracted his hand.

"If I take this will you buzz off and leave me the hell alone?" He snarled, his usual scowl creeping it's way back onto his face. Julia seemed to hesitant to nod in response, but she did, before hopping back to the ground and gesturing the lollipop at him. He reluctantly took it, pulling apart the wrapper.

"Welp—Guess I'll see you tomorrow!" Julia called as she walked towards the common room and up the stairs. Only when she was out of sight did Bakugo put the lollipop in his mouth, his face contorting intensely as the sourness burned through his tongue. He yanked the candy from his mouth, analyzing it for a bit.

' _Damn these really_ _ **are**_ _sour_ '

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

Emilia grabbed the tongs meant for the noodles, grabbing a decent supply and letting the thin dough strings fall into her soup. The scent was quite nice, not too rich, not too stale—just right, much like her day. It was certainly eventful, but it was pretty cut and dry in her own circumstances, except for one nagging thing: Khalid.

She didn't know his condition at all, and quite frankly wasn't worried about it until she took a seat at the table with Roy, Carson, Leo, Ghala, and Julia. Only then did she begin to suspect what happened— but she couldn't be sure.

"Where's Khalid?" She asked, trying to hollow out her voice. The rest of the class looked at each other and shrugged, save for Carson and Leo.

"He's in the hospital. He blacked out when he hit the bottom of the ravine," Leo deadpanned, a flicker of anger or ... annoyance in his eyes. She couldn't tell.

"Oh." It was the only thing she could say. She tried to keep the disappointment and guilt from her voice, and it seemed to work for the most part, but Leo didn't seem to buy it, though he said nothing.

"He's awake if you wanna go talk to him," Carson quipped up, gesturing at the door behind them. Emilia tapped her fingers against her knuckles as she debated to herself, but ultimately, she never left her seat.

"I'll think about it."

Carson nodded, and diverted his attention to his dinner, seeming quite happy that it wasn't the usually deer or elk this time.

"You seem quite happy with that Carson," Ghala commented, twirling her noodles with a fork as opposed to chopsticks (likely for not appearing as a slob). He looked up at her with bright eyes as broth dripped from the corner of his lip and rolled down his chin.

"Carson you have a little—" Roy began as he flicked a gloved thumb over the drip on Carson's chin and wiping it away. Roy drew back his hand, snickering as Carson's face flushed red.

Roy's giggling turned into a fit of laughter, only receiving only a hardened expression from Carson. It was childish, but still funny in a way.

"Gee I didn't know someone other than Leo could get _that_ red," Julia teased, flicking a coy glance at Leo, who rolled his eyes and paid no mind to her.

"You guys suck," Carson choked out from under the fit of noodles he tried to swallow. He his his cheek by resting it in his hand as he continued to eat the noodles until he was satisfied, leaving the group as he disposed of his cutlery.

Eventually Leo left afterward, _not_ cleaning up after himself despite the fact he liked his areas devoid of any messes. The rest of the group then filed out the cafeteria doors, only two people remaining: Ghala and Emilia.

The two of them never got off on the right foot. Emilia thought of Ghala as an insufferable spoiled brat, while Ghala, to put it her own words, though of Emilia as " a bastard and a narcissist". It's been a year since that explosive argument, but the statement still hung with her.

"So I see it's just the two of us," she began, breaking the both the silence and bit tension between them.

"So it seems," Emilia responded, mocking Ghala's posh way of speaking a bit, though no spite was gained from it. She took a drink from her glass, wiping off the condensation from her fingers after setting it down.

"Shouldn't you be visiting Khalid?" She began sternly. "I imagine you would want some closure."

"Closure? What the hell are you talking about?" Emilia whispered, no bite behind her question. Ghala took another sip from her glass, cupping it her hand as she spoke.

"He fell into a ravine and—at least from what I've heard—hurt himself quite badly. You should go see him."

"I'm not ready," Emilia mumbled, barely audible to even herself.

"Beg your pardon?"

"I said I'm not ready," she seethed, and despite her bleak tone, her somber expression let Ghala read her like an open book.

"Oh? Feeling remorse are we?" She chastised, taking another sip of water. Emilia simply glared at her, drumming her fingers against her knuckles as she spaced out.

"Hm, I guess not. And here I thought we'd be sporting an improvement," she commented, resting a cheek in her hand as she swished the little water that remained in her glass.

"It's not like you're any better," Emil spat, a stray piece of hair falling and resting on the bridge of her nose.

"I find that ironic, considering you nearly killed a man," Ghala retorted, setting her glass down and adjusting her posture. Emilia did in turn.

"And so someone like Leo can get away with it?"

"And what would _he_ have to do with any of this?" Ghala inquired, swishing some of her curly hair from her face.

"He shackled and blinded one person, kicked another, and mortally wounded the last one and he gets a pass?"

"You know, for once, I agree with you." She smiled, genuinely. "Though he did visit the hospital room of one."

"That doesn't change anything—that kid will be out for months," Emilia pointed out, seeming to catch Ghala off guard as she has to think of something to say.

"I wouldn't so sure about that Emilia," she began, strangely, calling Emilia by her name. She pivoted and rose from her seat, stacking her plates and cutlery on her tray. "The abilities here honestly could make some space within our own class."

Ghala's fingers lingered on the table before she walked away, leaving Emilia alone to ponder with herself.

—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

" _Frankly you don't deserve it"_

The statement hung in Deku's mind, nagging at him throughout the entire night. Even at dinner he couldn't bring himself to eat because he was so hung up about the damn thing.

"Hey Midoriya, are you alright?" a voice broke his thoughts. Deku looked up and saw Iida, his face filled with concern.

"Yeah I'm just... I'm fine."

"Are you sure—"

" **I said I'm fine.** "

It was rare that Deku was angry, but when he was, he was almost unapproachable. He didn't have any crazy outbursts, but his rough tone and lack of elaboration left other no choice but to leave him be.

"Well," Iida began politely, straightening his glasses. "Would you like to tell us? We don't mean to pry, but it would certainly help if you got it off your chest."

He looked at Uraraka for better leverage. Nodding, she set down her bowl of rice and set her chopsticks on a napkin in front of her as she swallowed down her last bit of food.

"Yeah. I think we 'oughta know!" She began cheerfully, pulling the friendliest smile she could. "We're your friends and all."

Deku smiled solemnly as fixed his posture, interlocking his fingers and caressing a large scar with his thumb.

"Well, it's about something that someone said," he began vaguely, his expression softening a bit.

"Was it Bakugo?" Iida asked, jumping to conclusions as always. Deku shook his head, bringing a cluster of noodles to his lips.

"Was it Roy?" Uraraka asked out of the blue. "You know, about the whole _boyfriend_ thing?"

Deku was caught so off guard by the accusation that he began choking on his food and spiraling into a coughing fit that only ended when he managed to catch his breath.

"No," he panted, swiping a bit of drool that made its way down his chin. "It was Leo."

Is

At that name, Uraraka went rigid.

"What did he say?" She quivered, not making any eye contact with him. Deku looked at her, stunned at her reaction. She usually never had I'll thoughts of anyone, let alone show them.

"He just said I shouldn't have my quirk," he began, surprising Uraraka and Iida both. "He even said that it wasn't mine. I mean he—" Deku faltered, knowing that if he spoke any longer, they would find out. **(A/N: yes it is their 3rd year at U.A, but only Bakugo and Todoroki know about Deku's quirk)**

"WHAT?" Iida gasped, as if the statement was directed towards him.

"But Deku, that quirk _is_ yours. How can he say that?"

Deku inhales deeply, staring down at the meal in front of him with somewhat of a guilty expression—remorseful of his lying. He merely nodded in response, trying to muster a bit of confidence to seem convincing. He remained silent, not contradicting his accusation, nor supporting it.

"What else did he say—if there was anything of course," Iida asked, adjusting his glasses with a finger. Deku looked up, and making eye contact with his friend, straightened his posture.

"He just said that it looked unnatural," he began, being as vague as possible. "He also said that I had terrible combat and that if I still had a quirk like mine, that I shouldn't be breaking my bones."

Iida put a finger to his chin, thinking for a moment. Uraraka mirrored him.

"I admit, his words quite rough and completely immoral, however he is right on the subject of your bones," he said finally. "They shouldn't be breaking given your training."

At that, Deku's blood went cold. Iida was right, and there was no revoking his statement—probably.

Deku pulled out the printouts of his xrays, pushing them towards his friends.

"They're only stress fractures, so I guess there was improvement. But you're right. I can't be holding myself back from 100%—"

"I never said—"

"I just need to do better! Go beyond like everyone else," Deku exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear. Uraraka seemed to be back to her usual self, smiling along with him, though there was still a hint of uneasiness in her expression.

"Yeah! That's the spirit!" She exclaimed a fist in the air as a toothy smile crept across her face.

Deku nodded, giving a nervous thumbs up before glancing at a clock from across the room and standing up to dispose of his tray. The three of them had stepped out the door just as the bell rang. They all filed into the classroom, sitting silently and waiting Present Mic—whose company wasn't appreciated all that much.

' _What if he's right?'_ It was a thought that ate at him for the entire day. Come to think of it, Deku never necessarily contemplated on his worthiness of using the ability. He was more set on improving as a hero, not on worrying about his stance in the whole 'inheriting one-for-all' thing.

But now, it was something to think about. He was _graduating._ He was going to step out into the _real_ world as a _real_ hero. He'd just be living in All Might's shadow if he didn't get better; if he didn't go above and beyond.

' _Why did All Might even give me this quirk in the first place? I mean, yeah sure he explained his reasons as "the true mark of a hero" but was that really it? Or—'_

Deku's thoughts were cut off by a faint monotonous melody outside. He averted his gaze to the window and saw that the American interns were marching. They dawned their military uniforms, which were solid black suits adorned with patches, likely depicting ranks. Deku leaned closer to the window, trying to pick up the tune of the soldiers and he was completely astounded as to what it was.

" **IM A BARBIE GIRL, IN A BARBIE WORLD**

 **LIFE IN PLASTIC, IS FANTASTIC**

 **YOU CAN BRUSH MY HAIR, UNDRESS ME EVERYWHERE**

 **IMAGINATION, LIFE IS YOUR CREATION!**

 **COME ON BARBIE LETS GO PARTY**

 **HUP, TWO, THREE, FOUR"** (A/N: the vine that inspired this is a work of art PLEASE look it up)

"Pfttt," Deku's hands flew to his mouth to cover his snickering. Kacchan, who sat in front of him, whirled around to face him with the usual angry scowl on his face—except this time he had a lollipop in his mouth so it looked a bit odd.

"The phuck are you lafing at?" He whispered, the candy slurring his speech a bit, which only caused Deku to laugh harder. He was getting red in the face and he struggled to hold is breath, lightly banging his hand on the surface of the desk to compensate before he pointed to the window, gesturing his friend (well, it's a bit one-sided) to go look. Kacchan rose from his seat and stalked over to the window, leaning his forehead against the glass surface. When the students rounded the corner again, Kacchan must've heard their chants because he too began to step away from the window, dying laughing (or cackling), as he sat down at his desk.

As the laughter died down, the whole class was staring at them—mostly Bakugo since he made the most noise and the fact that he doesn't _genuinely_ laugh very often.

"Uh are you okay? Like did someone brainwash you?" Kaminari hollered, probably trying to irk Kacchan. Surprisingly, Bakugou didn't respond. He simply rolled his eyes and slouched further down in his seat for a few minutes before turning around to face Deku once more.

"The fuck are they doing?" He asked, playing with stick of his lollipop (funny he never likes candy).

Deku turned to the window swiftly before responding. "I think they're marching."

"Oh yeah, Pink Cheeks told me something about that," he mentioned, slipping the lollipop stick between his teeth.

"You mean Uraraka?"

And that sentence made history. That was the first time that Kacchan ever blushed, even if it was just a little bit. It still happened—and it was _perfect_ black-mail material, though Deku would never admit it.

"No! Other Pink Cheeks!"

Deku looked down at the desk, thinking for a moment whether or not to say what he was going to say. He did.

"You mean you?" Kacchan looked at him dumbfounded, almost offended.

"What the hell?! No!" He lunged at Deku who flashed his hands up with a chuckle.

"Relax, I'm just kidding," he said. Kacchan slowly retreated back to his seat with a look that said 'you better be'.

"Still though, which Pink Cheeks are you talking about?"

Bakugo blinked at him as if he were stupid, but still answered his question anyway.

"You know, blondie," he retorted. Still Deku didn't know who he was talking about.

"Oh my fucking god—the short blondie outside—THATS Pink Cheeks. Round Face is Round Face, and I don't have _pink cheeks,"_ he growled, facing away from Deku. After giving it some thought, he concluded that it was Julia he was talking about. She was a lot shorter than many of her class mates, and because of that she was easily spotted amongst her chant of the students faded out as they rounded the corner, their small group keeping its rectangular position. They were all rigid, arms perfectly straight at their sides, facing forward, legs never bending as they marched. Their formation seemed perfect until Deku heard the frighteningly loud orders of "BACKS STRAIGHT" "MARCH FASTER" and "KEEP THAT DAMN THING STILL" that emanated from a short, bald man in a camouflage uniform.

At first, Deku didn't quite know what meant by "that damn thing" until his eyes ventured up the rows until it got to a point with one student carrying a large flagpole, though no flag was hung.

And that student was Leo.

Deku's eyes angrily tore from the window, but then he glanced back, taking another count of their class for some inexplicable reason.

He counted six. Weren't there supposed to be eight?

—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

Emilia grasped the doorknob, not opening it. She stood, battling whether or not to open the door. As footsteps echoed down the hallway, she impulsively twisted the knob and threw the door open, slamming it as hard as she could behind her and startling Khalid. He didn't have his glasses on, so it must've been frightening when a sudden slam came from across the room. He patted his hand on the bed, trailing to the nightstand, but before he could grab his glasses, Emilia took them and set them on the bridge of his nose.

"Oh hey em," he greeted rather cheerfully, adjusting his specs with a finger.

"Hello."

"You need somethin'?"

She froze, not knowing what to say. She glanced at the nightstand as if it would give her something to say. It didn't, sadly.

"I'm sorry," she blurted, eyes widening at her sudden statement. Khalid looked at her, confused.

"Whaddya mean? You don't got anythin' to be sorry for," he said woefully while pressing a button on the armrest of the bed that rose him into a Fowler's position. Emilia only remained silent.

"Em," he grasped her wrist. "Look at me. I'm fine. If it's about what happened today, it's all good. I should be out in the mornin."

Emilia nodded as he loosened his assuring grip and picked up some papers, handing them to her.

"Those are ma MRIs. You can look at em'—ain't too bad," he smiled. Emilia shuffled through the papers surprised to see that his skull was fine, he had just gotten a severe concussion.

"They'd be keeping you for longer if you went unconscious," she said, neatly stacking the papers on his nightstand before handing them to him.

"Eh, I got ways," he assured, even though it didn't seem believable.

"Alright," she said, starting towards the door. "Don't push yourself. And...I'm sorry."

Before Khalid could protest, she was out the door.

—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

As soon as the bell rang, Uraraka stormed downstairs, ignoring all of her friends offers of hanging out. She turned the corner, but suddenly collided with a large figure. Staggering back, she saw a tuft of blonde hair and a usual slouching stature. Bakugo.

"Who the hell—," he began, clearly angry, but then stopped. "Oh it's just you."

"Yeah, um sorry about that," she quipped, trying to stay her cheerful self.

"Yeah whatever it's fine," he spat, spinning on his heel and walking away equally as fast as she. Uraraka was speechless at his reaction. He didn't get mad—which was surprising because he was _always_ mad. Remembering her objective, Uraraka shook the thought from her mind and made a beeline for the track outside. Sprinting down the stairs and practically punching the doors open, she sped to the front of the school, hoped over a few fences before arriving. As luck would have it, Leo was there. Alone.

"What?" It was more of a statement than a question, filled with annoyance and irritation. Uraraka stomped up to him, noticing how tall he was—and it wasn't the handsome kind of tall. He loomed over her like some sort of shadow, ironic given that his skin was a snowy white.

"Apologize to Deku," she said firmly, trying to establish an authority that quickly fleeted when he spoke.

"For what?"

"Saying that his quirk isn't his and that he's bad at fighting—which he isn't," she yelled, trying to faze him, but it didn't work.

"It isn't his."

"How do _you_ know that?!"

"How do you know that is indeed his?"

Uraraka couldn't respond. She was sure that Deku's quirk was Deku's, but Leo's statement put the possibility that is wasn't on the table.

"I don't know," she began, growing confidence in her edge in the argument. "But you don't know that it isn't his either."

Leo paused for a moment, probably realizing his flawed reasoning. His slitted eyes darted around the area before landing in her direction, though not at her. He glared sharply as she whirled around, but only seeing a shuffling of bushes.

"In the hospital, he told me he was taught under someone named All Might—that he taught him how to use his power," he narrowed his eyes and rolled a shoulder back. "Who knows—it may have belonged to All Might."

Uraraka's blood felt like ice. There was no way, no way that he was right. She gritted her teeth, holding herself back from throwing a punch, which unfortunately failed. Her fist flew right at Leo, promptly landing in a cupped hand near his face. Uraraka retracted her fist and brought it to her side, knuckles white and fingernails digging into her hands.

"If you want to spar, fine," He monotoned. He didn't take a proper fighting stance, only spreading he legs a shoulder width apart with his long arms at his sides.

Uraraka wound up a kick aimed for his neck, aiming to trick him and loop around him with her quirk. He grabbed her ankle as it neared him, violently whipping her around and throwing her to the ground.

"Owww," she breathed. She ran her fingers over her ankle to make sure nothing was broken. As it appeared fine, she stood up taking a boxers stance before whirling bulleted punches at his torso, then chest, followed by a kick. Each blow landed him his hand. Each blow, he didn't pivot or move. He was completely still.

"You know, if your sparring, you have to attack to," she spat, her breaths heaving.

"If I'm catching your fists, you can't dodge my punches," he deadpanned, tugging on his thumbs to pop them. Uraraka hooked a foot under his ankle, but instead of toppling him over him down, she herself fell.

Uraraka rose to her feet, brushing the dust off of her skirt. Before she could attack again, she heard a ring from her phone by her backpack. She trotted over to it, flipping it open and placing the speaker to her ear.

"Ochako honey? Are you there?" It was her mother

"Yeah mom I'm here," she responded cheerfully.

"Okay! I just wanted to remind you that Karu is coming over for dinner tonight, so don't stay too late."

"Oh shoot! I'll be there, thanks for letting me know mom," she responded, quickly grabbing her belongings.

"Alright see you mom, I'm gonna go to the station now."

"Okay, bye."

Uraraka hung up, more closely analyzing her phone screen to make sure nothing was broken. It appeared fine, aside from a few scratches, so she closed it and slipped it into her backpack.

Tapping her palm, she rose off the ground, waiting until she crossed the fence. Before pressing her fingers together and releasing herself. She landed not-so-gracefully on her ass, but recovered quickly. As she stood up, she saw Bakugo leaning against the fence, scrolling through his phone while his head bobbed up and down to the beat of his music.

"Bakugo? What are you doing here?"

He turned to face her, pulling out his earbuds and tucking his phone in his pocket and shooting her a confused look.

"What?" She asked, becoming slightly unnerved by his gaze.

"What's with the dirt?" He asked. _Always_ straight to the point with him.

"Oh I was sparring," she said, but then added when he seemed unconvinced, "with Leo."

"Oh that cum stain," he chided, folding his arms.

"Where did that name come from?!" She cried, completely surprised.

"He fuckin looks like one," he snorted. Uraraka paused, thinking about it for a moment before shrugging in defeat.

"You're not wrong, I guess," she retorted, making her way towards the next fence.

"Why _were_ you guys sparring?" He asked, catching up to her and motioning her towards a door. She followed his lead, stepping inside to a long stairwell.

"Well it's gonna sound stupid, but I got mad at him because of something he said to Deku," she began, Bakugo visibly recoiling at the statement. "He said that his combat sucked—which it doesn't— and he also didn't belong to him."

Bakugo considered her for a moment, before stopping and pulling out a pen and notebook, tearing a page and writing down a series of numbers before folding it and handing it to her.

"I'll text you about it."

Then he jogged up the stairs and out of sight. Uraraka tried to follow him, but by the time she got to the common room, he was gone. Uraraka opened the door to her room, shrugging out of her uniform and putting on a plain pink summer dress and white flats. She went into the bathroom, running her fingers through the tangles in her hair to make it look presentable before she heard her phone vibrate on the counter. Opening it, she saw that the text came from an unknown number, but the paragraph that followed broke her.

~ **80-1234-5678:** Hey it's me. What that Leo guy was right. Deku quirk isn't his. All Might gave it to him, I don't fuckin know when, but he did. Deku never had a quirk. That's why I was such a piece of shit to him. Hate me if you want, but I don't think that bastard deserved to have it. He didn't have to form himself to perfection all his goddamn life. Sure he works now, but that's now, not back then. Gotta say though, that Cumstain caught on fast. It took me a few months to find out in freshman year. Icy-hot found out in second year. So yeah, Deku's been lying to you, but it's understandable.

Uraraka's thumbs hovered over the key board as tears rolled down her cheeks. She was completely speechless. Only one thing could be said.

 **Uravity** : I can't believe he didn't _FUCKING_ tell me

—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

Bakugo say on the edge of his bed, the laughter of his friends the only noise in the room.

~ _ **Roundface**_ _ **:**_ _I can't believe he didn't FUCKING tell me_

 _Bakugo's eyes widened at her text. He's never heard her cuss before. She must've really been hurt by it._

Maybe it was a mistake to tell her, Maybe it wasn't; But as much he hated Deku, it felt wrong to hurt his friend. But it also felt wrong to keep her in the dark.

It seems that ignorance is truly bliss.

—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

 **HOLY RAVIOLI the tea in this chapter is REALLY spicy. I know I'm super late again, but more chapters will be out soon. Just wanted to make this one really juicy and trying to stick the MHA characters in it more, since they are important.**


	6. Shit's 'Boutta Hit the Fan

Chapter 6: Shit's 'Boutta Hit the Fan

Deku ran out of his dorm room, once again, nearly late for school. He had hung his backpack on his shoulders so where the contents faced him as he struggled to shove his textbooks inside. He ran past the common room and out the doors, hopping over the bushes to take a short cut to the main building.

When he hopped over to the field he saw a small keychain and, on closer inspection, it was Uraraka's. He took it into his palm and began tucking it into his pocket when an object whirled at him but didn't hit him, instead striking at the bulls eye of a target that was next to him.

"Sorry 'bout that!'' A voice hollered before another arrow flew at the target, cleanly splitting the previous arrow in half as it hit the bullseye again. He looked to see that it was Charlie holding a some sort of compound bow as she strung another arrow, poised to shoot. Deku put some power in his legs to propel himself upward to land on the sill of the window, giving it a knock to see if Uraraka— who was the only person there— would open it.

She didn't seem to notice, so he gave another knock, this time she did hear him. She stared at him for a moment with puffy eyes before getting out of her seat, with great hesitation, and sliding the window open.

"Hey Uraraka whats—" she didn't even let him finish his sentence before she walked back to her seat and putting her head down. Soon Iida came inside, followed by Yaoyoruzo, then Kacchan and his friends, then the rest of the class, and Mr. Aizawa after a few minutes.

Home room felt fleeting as Deku tried to distract himself from his thoughts by watching Charlie shoot, though now she was accompanied by the rest of her class. Julia seemed to be meditating while holding up large cement balls with her quirk, Emilia and Roy were running laps around the track along with Carson. Ghala didn't seem to be doing much until Deku squinted at her arm, noticing that it was hideously disfigured but slowly going back to normal. Leo was doing a series of flips that integrated of punches and kicks.

He never seemed to have an opening; even in the air he would propel his body in a way that made him look like a spinning top. It was smart thinking, allowing him to get to the ground faster and harder to hit. Deku pulled out his notebook, scribbling down notes on Leo's technique before he was "kindly" interrupted by Kacchan in front of him.

"Deku, get your ass up we're leaving," he growled, motioning towards the door.

"Where are we going?"

"Track."

"Oh then I'll just go through the window," Deku said, unlocking the window and pushing it open before jumping down to meet his class just as they were coming out the door. Kacchan seemed to also be fond of the idea because he too began jumping out of the window, but when he tried to make explosions to cushion his fall, but they merely came out as puffs of smoke. As he fell, Uraraka immediately sprung into action, just barely touching his shin right before he hit the ground. She then released her quirk as folded her arms with a worried look on her face.

"You know you could've really gotten hurt with that," she scolded with a pointed finger.

"I couldn't make my explosions okay! Fuck off!" He snapped, shoving his hands into his pockets and walking away from her before stopping suddenly.

"What the fuck are _you_ laughing at?!" Deku turned to see who it was coming from and oddly enough, it was Charlie.

"Bhahahahaha! I can't believe he...hasn't...noticed yet," she wheezed between breaths.

"What the hell did you do?!"

Charlie held up a finger as she tried to stop laughing. She eventually did, it just took a while.

"A half a cup of Kosher salt, sea salt, coconut oil, and water," she said, rising from her slouched position.

"The fuck—WHY?"

"I do it to Roy all the time, so I wanted to see what would happen if I did it to you. Not gonna lie it was pretty funny."

"WHEN DID YOU DO THIS?"

"I did it when you were asleep. Snuck into your dorm after buying a pack of Red Bull and I couldn't resist."

"What the ACTUAL FUCK."

"Honestly, your reaction in funnier than Roy's. He usually just gets annoyed then like pricks his fingers or something."

"FUCK YOU BITCH"

"Nah I'll pass," she retorted before picking up her bow and firing another arrow, splitting the previous arrow. Actually there was an entire stack of about six or so arrows on three targets, very few missing their mark.

" **QUIET! ALL OF YOU!"** A voice roared. It was unfamiliar to Deku, but the interns seemed to know it right away since they all scrambled from their spots, dropping everything from their hands and saluting in front the short bald man from yesterday.

"ATTENTION!" They all removed their hands from their foreheads and struck them to their sides, standing rigid. He opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by the whispers of girls in his own class.

"HEY WHEN I SAY ATTENTION, THAT MEANS YOU GUYS' TOO," He bellowed pointing at Ashido and Hagakure who all promptly shut their mouths to pay attention.

"OKAY LISTEN UP. YOU ALL ARE GONNA BE WORKING WITH ME FOR A FEW DAYS," he glanced to his students. "WE'RE WARMING UP WITH A FOUR MILE RUN. NO STOPPING OR YOU GET AN EXTRA MILE. DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR."

The entire class nodded, not a single word escaping from their lips.

"Good. Now get on the track," he said, gesturing towards it.

"Um excuse me sir," Mineta began. The officer looked at him rather rigidly before allowing him to continue.

"Don't we need to change into P.E uniforms? We can't be running in our regular uniforms."

"If my students run in theirs, you can run in yours. So suck it up," he deadpanned.

"Umm it's actually against school protocol to do P.E without the uniform," Mineta elaborated, though it was a complete and utter lie. The officer's eyes darted to his students, who's camo uniforms were covered in sweat and dirt, then back at Mineta.

"Fine. BUT FIVE MINUTES, AND **ONLY** FIVE," he turned to his students. "You guys stay how you are. Get some water, and be ready in five."

They all nodded, going their separate ways.

—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

"You think the'll last?" Roy asked, trying his best to put out the flames under his armpits **(A/N: if he gets too sweaty, he'll light on fire. His ability makes he body fluids flammable. It's in this order: oil, sweat, tears, saliva, urine, blood)**

"Depends honestly. Some of those guys got _niice_ muscles," Charlie admitted.

"You can't just say that Charlie."

"Uh—you can flirt 24/7 and I can't say that a guy's got a bigger cup size than me just cause of his muscles? Hunny I don't think so," she retorted.

"What do you mean a bigger cup size?!" He cried, shook by the accusation.

"Dude have you SEEN that Bakugo guy? Dude's got better tiddies than me," she explained.

"I did not need to know that."

"You asked do know dumbass."

Roy gave a deep sigh and rolled his eyes, pulling a small bottle of adhesive from his pocket and spread it across his chest, under arms, and the cuffs of his wrists— on the cloth so it wouldn't burn.

"Hey Leo, quick question," Charlie began, stepping towards him. "Where was dinner yesterday?"

"Do you think I'm your maid?"

"LOL no. It's just that you usually make dinner, but yesterday you just went of the radar."

"We ate in the cafeteria. I didn't feel like eating deer, since that seems to be the only thing here," he explained.

"Huh," she said, her lips curving downward slightly. One of the U.A students emerged from around the corner in a dark blue track suit, then followed by another until they all stood in front of the colonel. Roy immediately dropped his water bottle and jogged offer to the track, the rest of his class following behind. All students lined up on the track, seven per lane, awaiting the colonel's signal.

He saw the "Bakugo guy" that Charlie was talking about, poised to use his ability with his arms extended behind his back. He went to tap him on the shoulder, but Julia beat him to the punch.

"You might not wanna use that," she said. Bakugo gave her a bewildered look.

"He didn't say that we couldn't use 'em," he fired back. ' _Oh boy here we go'_

"That's cause colonel thinks that nobody's gonna use their powers. Trust me, first day of freshman year, we did that and he had us run 6 miles."

The boy merely clicked his tongue, bringing his hands back to his sides. The colonel stood in the middle of the track and fumbled with the buckle his holster, pulling out a pistol (the usual AR-15 that he loved so dearly), and pointed it to the air then then fired it. This scared a few of the students, but others impulsively used their abilities. To which the colonel responded with another shot. Everyone stopped.

"You with the eyes (Todoroki), you in the pink (Ashido), you with the belt (Aoyama), and you—the plain looking one (Deku). All of you are running six. Start back at the line. The rest of you keep running," he spat, lowering the gun and placing it where it belonged.

"What do you mean we gotta start over?" The pink girl cried trudging back to starting line.

"I said a four mile RUN. You RUN. You don't half ass it," he snapped, pointing to the start. The students filed along the line then began to run once more.

Roy kept a pace with his sister and Carson, Charlie a bit ahead, Ghala slightly behind, and Julia trying to hold up a friendly conversation with Bakugo which ultimately failed, so she ignored him and fell back to talk with Ghala. Leo was farther ahead, starting his second lap. His bare feet patted against the ground in a steady 2/2 tempo that put Roy at ease. He was like an etude in a way—crazily fast and unnatural, yet comprehendible if you payed attention.

"So, how has it been—being here and everything?" He asked Emilia. She gave his question some thought before answering.

"It's been fine. Nothing too eventful."

"Huh." He was a but surprised by her statement, but it is his sister after all—being the "I-give-zero-fucks" kind of person. "Well I'm actually having a lot of fun. It's a breath of fresh air."

"Ironic given the pollution," she joked, though she bore no expression.

"True. But there's actually fun things to do here. Like the common room, and running outside. Hell, we can even go off campus here—And we don't have to do much because the faculty takes care of it all, which is nice."

"I guess."

Roy turned back to see the other runners, noticing Uraraka's conflicted expression. She seemed angry, but sad at the same time.

"I'll be right back," he said as he jogged backward towards the girl. She seemed to be more concerned with her running than paying attention to him, but he still spoke.

"Are you okay?" He chuckled, pulling out a flask filled with water and taking a swig.

"Hm? Oh...it's you," she panted. "Yeah—I'm fine"

"You sure? You look hung up about something."

Uraraka looked at him, opening her mouth to speak, but then closed it. Roy was pretty sure that this had to do with Leo, since he'd mentioned that he'd sparred with a brown haired girl after she got mad about Deku.

"It's about Leo isn't it," he deadpanned.

"Wha—how'd you know?"

"I told you, he's my best friend, and best friends tell each other things that bother them," he said with a smirk. Uraraka looked at him in great thought, then to the front where the plain looking boy was and back at him.

"I..guess so," she said with a smile, before tapping her thigh and picking up her pace.

"Yeah," he muttered, and realizing she'd probably pay no mind to what he'd have to say, jogged back to his sister

—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

"2:22.57— that's your best yet," he colonel said before tucking the stopwatch back into his pocket.

"Anything in particular we're doing?" Leo asked, wiping the dirt off his bare feet. The colonel craned his neck to the sky, thinking for a moment.

"Eh, I'll prolly have you guys do some sparring. Maybe weights if we've got time," he shrugged.

"Abilities or no?"

"Hmmm," the colonel paused for a moment. "Maybe. I'll think about it."

"Got it."

Leo then made his way under a nearby tree, sitting down with a deck of cards and playing solitaire amongst himself. It was really the only way he entertained himself since he broke his last phone by squeezing it to hard (he's broken 4), so he just opted to not have one. Time passed by and while he was invested in his third round, he felt someone tap his shoulder.

Midoriya.

"We're supposed to find sparring partners," he explained. "I was wondering if you wanted to be mine.''

Leo rose from his position, hastily grabbing the cards and shoving them into his breast pocket.

"Fine," he walked past him to a small open clearing. "Get ready."

The boy adopted a fighting stance, lunging forward with a painfully obvious punch, which Leo promptly caught in his hand. He jumped back and waited for a few seconds, possibly for Leo to attack, but when he remained still, Midoriya lunged forward with another punch. Before it made contact with Leo, he retracted his fist and went for a kick at the torso. This time Leo caught his ankle though he still tried to round another kick, but before he could, he threw him to the ground.

Midoriya didn't waver. He got up, taking a stance once more, poised to attack.

"Uraraka's," he began, sending a few bulleted punches followed by a kick. "Uraraka's been avoiding me. I don't know why, but I know you have something to do with it."

He leapt back ward, taking a boxers stance. "What did you tell her?"

Midoriya invoked his ability, making him stronger and faster, but his linear nature of combat made him easy to track. Leo caught one punch, then another, then a kick, then another. That was the rhythm he went by, and it clearly wasn't working.

"I only spoke of what was already said," Leo deadpanned, then grabbed Midoriya by the scruff of his neck, pulling him forward and giving him a kick to the gut just to mix it up a bit. The boy stood up, his eyes darting around looking for an opening. He crouched under, slipping between Leo's freakishly long legs, and jumping upward for a kick. Leo whirled around, delivering the same favor before he could make any contact.

"Then why is she avoiding me? Is something bothering her? Because if that's the case I want to help," Midoriya said, rising to his feet once more. He went for a kick at Leo's neck, but it was promptly caught and he was thrown to the ground.

"It's your silence that bother's her," he said, catching the next punch. "If you are truly concerned with her you should start opening your mouth and talking."

At that, the boy impulsively used his ability at full power, forcing Leo to dodge upward. The gust of wind tore trees from the ground, blowing them across the field. Everyone stopped fighting to look from where the impact came from. They bore no expression, merely being quiet murmurs that riddled through their class with a sound akin to flying insects.

Midoriya was beginning to stand up when Leo stalked up to him, the slits in his blood-red eyes visibly narrowing as he spoke.

"If you really want to be a hero, you'll have to be honest—if not, you'll just be an overly-inflated liar with the lives of other's in your hands. You can throw them away whenever you want if that secret is so valuable to you," he spat, gripping the boy's shoulder for a moment before letting it go and walking away.

—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

" _ **You can throw them away whenever you want if that secret is so valuable to you.."**_

That sentence felt like a knife going through his chest. But along with that came the resolve to prove him wrong, like he did with Kacchan.

If anything though, this felt worse coming from someone like Leo, who was brutally honest in his accusations. He wasn't trying to stomp on a dream that he wanted to, and could, achieve—he was trying to get him do something that many heroes don't do.

Tell the truth.

And for now, things weren't going to be in his favor.

—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

"Hey Em," Charlie began, breaking Emilia's train of though. "Do you think I should get an undercut?"

"It's your hair, you can do whatever you want."

Charlie thought crossed her legs, craning her neck to think for a moment. She lifted her arm so that her phone was at eye level.

"Hmmmm...You know—fuck it. I'm getting it done," she said eventually, hopping from couch in the common room and grabbing Khalid's sketchbook off the table and looking through it, perhaps for inspiration. Most of the art in the sketch pad was abstract, being a blend of miscellaneous colors that all seemed to flow together naturally.

"Oh shit I like this," she said, stopping at a page with a water color piece comprised of a few different blues that were mixed together to appear as a sky, however it didn't seem to be finished. Charlie then closed the sketchbook and set it back on the table before getting up and jogging upstairs. At the same time, she heard someone coming downstairs. The hall was a bit dark due to the coming dusk, but eventually Roy emerged from the stairway holding a large keyboard—a piano keyboard.

"What's that for?" Emilia asked, even though the answer was quite obvious. Roy's eyes lit up like he'd found a diamond.

"It's Jirou's piano keyboard! I asked her if I could use it in the common room and she was actually fine with it," he exclaimed, blue eyes glittering with excitement. "I haven't played for days and I'm just itching to."

Emilia rolled her eyes with a smirk, "You're acting like being separated from a keyboard will kill you."

"It will!"

"The go ahead and play something!" she retorted with a toothy smile, gesturing Roy towards the center of the common room where he extended the legs of the piano and plugged it into the wall. He ran his fingers over the keys, mesmerized by them, before he pushed down on one. He then pushed more fingers down on the instrument and slowly a waltz trickled from his fingers. He closed his eyes as he played, a faint hum of the tune flowed with the music. The song was quite cheery, and his expression reflected a childlike nature. His fingers didn't waver on the keys. They hit every mark perfectly and almost subconsciously. **(A/N: he's playing the Minute Waltz by Chopin)**

Emilia felt the faint shift of the couch cushion and saw the girl that he'd mentioned before: the owner of the piano, Jirou.

"He's really good," she mused, likely unaware of Emilia's presence.

"He's been playing since he was young," Emilia said to try and quell the eventual curiosity.

"Oh, I didn't see you there."

"I figured."

The two stayed quiet as the song hit its last few notes. The silence that followed made the air seem a bit hollow, but that could be up to the imagination. There was more shifting in the couch and Julia , along with Kaminari, Kirishima, and Bakugo sat down near her as Roy began to drum his fingers against the keyboard, though no sound came.

"Hey Roy try playing the Moonlight Monata!" Julia cheered. "I've never seen you play it."

Roy looked at her, then back at the keyboard and intertwining his fingers to pop them. His hands hovered over the keys, probably typing to remember the first few notes.

"I only know the third movement though,'' he said, a bit dissatisfied. "Is that okay?"

"Is that the fast part?" She asked. Roy said nothing. Instead, he began to play. His fingers practically rolling their way up the keyboard as he slowly began to experiment with the tone. The melody remained the same, except for a few ups and downs that tugged at the tune. Unlike before, he was in a deep concentration, making sure his notes were carefully calculated and precise. Emilia knew one thing about her brother and it was that he strived for perfection in everything he exceled in— _especially_ the piano. If any detail, even a rest, was incorrect, he'd start the entire piece all over again. If it was one minute, five, or even ten—it didn't matter. That was likely why he knew music like the back of his hand. The keys were an extension of his being, and in a way he loved the piano more than himself.

"You know, I honestly didn't expect him to be a pianist," Jirou mentioned, twirling an earphone jack. "He struck me as a pretty boy who had nothing better to do with his life than flirt."

Emilia chuckled lightly, "Actually, that's accurate."

"I'm not deaf you know," he snapped from the piano as the final notes faded out. He pivoted to face the small audience he'd acquired (the bakusquad, Jirou, Momo, Deku, Iida, And Uraraka).

"Any other requests?" He asked cheerfully, his fingers twiddling with an excitement that could rival Julia's. They remained silent until a black haired girl spoke up.

"Do you perchance know Liebestraum by Litsz? That piece was always a favorite of mine."

All the excitement drained from Roy's face as soon as she said 'Liebestraum'. Emilia didn't quite know why it was so difficult for him to play that piece, even when it was less complex than many other's he'd played before. But Roy's resolve to play the piano completely vanished, and he rose from the stool and pushed under the piano and walked away, gesturing Julia and Emilia to follow him.

"Colonel wants to see us," he mumbled, while looking at the screen of his phone. "We shouldn't be late."

He exhaled deeply and walked away, his figure obscured by the darkness of the hall.

—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

'Colonel Jonathan Ainsworth' is what his badge read, presenting a title of authority and a sense purpose. It was befitting of a soldier, but not of a father, which was how he felt about this class.

Often times he wanted them to call him Jonathan, or Anderson at least—but it would likely never happen.

Jonathan went through the profiles of his students over and over, slipping the sheets of paper behind one another in a rhythmic manner that calmed him so much that, when they opened the door, it startled him visibly. He set the papers on a desk next to him and regained his rigid composure.

"You're here early," he chided, crossing his legs in his seat. His students each saluted when they entered, then sat down on the ground in front of him awaiting news.

"So colonel, why'd-ja call us?" Jones (Khalid) asked, adjusting his glasses. Jonathan leaned back in his chair, spinning around on the axis in thought.

"I'm calling you here because I changed the meeting. I just wanna get this over and get the hell out of here, so I'm going out tomorrow."

"Wait, with all due respect colonel," Anderson began. ' _Here we go again,'_ he thought, rolling his eye but still letting the boy continue. "I think we should wait a bit and do a bit more around here. Maybe search for some concerning outside issues to sway the Japanese into a wholehearted agreement. Acting impulsively gives them a reason to refuse."

He even didn't take a second to even ponder the statement.

"No we're going tomorrow— And I've thought about you guy's body guard idea, and fine. I'll do it," He affirmed, then pointed to Hamilton (Charlie), Jones (Khalid), and Sawyer (Julia) respectively. "You three are coming with me. The rest of you stay, we'll call if we need backup. But under NO circumstances do I want Carson leaving the premises. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yessir!" They all said unanimously before exiting the room. After the door shut, only one remained.

Ca—Anderson.

"Sir," he began, tears welling in his eyes, though his voice remained firm. "Why...why do I have to stay behind like this? I'm just as capable as the rest of them. I'm not allowed to a thing and I hate it. A lot."

Jonathan took a deep breath, considering Carson's words, and choosing his carefully.

"You're valuable. I don't want you getting hurt."

Carson seemed astonished by the statement, but there was still a pained look in his eyes as he nodded and quietly went out the door.

—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

Deku immediately ran out the door as soon as the bell rang. He had to catch up with Uraraka as soon as possible to confront her about, or rather, give her some on his quirk. On is silence—or lying if anyone were to call it that.

He saw her bobbed hair round a corner and began to follow it, but then stopped when he heard Kacchan's voice.

"What," he growled, and even though Deku couldn't see him, he sounded pretty annoyed.

"I just...needed advice," she choked out.

"Hah?"

"I just don't know whether to confront Deku ya know? I mean I sparred with Roy earlier and he told me I should go talk to him—"

"Wait you told that piano fuck too?!''

"No! Leo told him," she explained cheerfully. "Anyway, I just wanted your input."

Kacchan stayed silent for a moment, perhaps to think. "I dunno, I mean you don't need him to fess up since you already know."

"But I don't want him to fess up, I just want an explanation on why he kept quiet to ME," she clarified, her body now visible around the corner of the wall.

"Then fucking ask him!"

"I'm...just not ready. But in any case, I needed to ask you something, but not here."

"The fuck, why?" He asked, the usual smugness embedded in his voice.

"I just want to know all the things you said back then," she clarified once more before walking down the stairs. Deku could've followed her—he really could've. But he didn't. He just stood there frozen, his mind lost about Leo's words.

" **You can throw them away whenever you want if that secret is so valuable to you.."**

It scared him, because his quirk was for the greater good but it's destruction could spiral into villainy.

And he didn't want to go down that path.

Ever.

—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

Flopping onto his bed and shoving his face into his pillow, Bakugo lay still awaiting Uraraka's text. It didn't come. He waited ten more minutes; still nothing.

"Goddammit," he seethed, annoyed with the fact that he even wanted her to text him. He stood up, opening his drawer and going through the neat stacks of clothes before picking a plain black t-shirt and some basketball shorts. He then shrugged off his shirt, throwing it into the laundry basket and starting for the shower before he heard his phone vibrate.

 **Roundface:** Hey! Sorry I didn't get to you earlier, I was in the shower.

' _God she even texts like that_ ,' he thought, chastising her bubbly demeanor.

 **King of Explodo-kills:** yeah whatever.

 **King of Explodo-Saves-kills:** so what did you wanna ask

 **Roundface:** well... I just wanted to ask you about Deku's life when he was quirkless, and what he went through.

 **Roundface:** it just hurt me that he didn't tell me.

Bakugo stared blankly at the screen, unsure of how to answer. His thumb hovered over the keyboard as he scratched his head in thought.

 **King of Explodo-kills:** well for starters, nobody acknowledged that fucker. They wouldn't pay attention to him

And as soon as he hit send, Bakugo knew that he dug himself into a hole that he probably wouldn't be able to get out of.

 **Roundface** : so they just ghosted him?

 **King of Explodo-kills:** Eh kinda

 **Roundface:** kinda?

 **King of Explodo-kills:** yeah cuz I'd bully the fuck out of him.

 **King of Explodo-kills:** I feel like shit about it, the things I said.

 **Roundface** : what kinds of things did you say to him..?

 **King of Explodo-kills:** I told him a lot of shit, but one thing I remember was the

last day of junior high. I found out he was gonna try and get into U.A

and I got pissed off that someone as useless as him would even

attempt at applying. After everyone left, I destroyed his stupid dream-journal

and tossed it out the window. Then I told him that he should hope for a

quirk in his next life, and take a swan dive off the roof of the building.

 **King of Explodokills:** I'm not proud of it, but what happens, happens.

Uraraka didn't answer for a few moments, which turned into a few minutes. Bakugo wondered if he perhaps said the wrong thing, but he remembered that she wanted to know the truth, as cruel as it was.

 **Roundface:** good. You shouldn't be.

 **King of Explodo-kills:** well fuck, what am I supposed to say to that?

 **Roundface** : what do you mean what are you supposed to day to that?! Shouldn't it be the

other way around?! How the heck am I supposed to respond about you telling

my BEST FRIEND TO KILL HIMSELF?

 **Roundface:** like, if Deku was still quirkless, would you have still treated him the same?

 **King of Explodo-kills:** if Deku was still quirkless, would you still wanna be friends with him?

 **King of Explodo-kills:** hell, would you have stopped to acknowledge him in the first place?

 **King of Explodo-kills** : of fucking course not. And don't come with the bullshit that it "depends",

because I know for a fucking fact that you would've overlooked his ass

without a second thought if he was that way.

Uraraka fell silent on the other line. Even when Bakugo had gone to sleep and awoken the next morning, she did not reply.

—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

Julia had practically flown out of bed that morning, jerking Charlie and Khalid from their slumber so that they would get ready for the big day.

The day this arms race would come to an end.

After they had all been fitted in military gear and braced for combat, they made their way downstairs to the common room to wait for the colonel on the couch. There were a few wandering eyes from other classes, but they didn't stop to pay any mind to them.

"Gee Colonel is sure taking a while," Julia commented, curling into a fetal position on the couch. Her jest was only met with blank nods that didn't quite meet anything. Julia kept quiet for a moment, trying to play along with the silence, but the tension proved to be too much for her.

"You know Khalid, I'm shocked that you came with us—you know with the concussion and all."

He blinked at her, unsure of what to say; but she was right to some extent.

"Eh," he shrugged, adjusting his glasses nervously. "I mean, I can't tell 'im that I don't wanna do it."

"Just be careful, okay? You hit your head pretty hard."

"He'll be fine Joo, don't worry. You already do _that_ too much,'' Charlie deadpanned, twirling one of her arrows

Julia brought her knees to the ground, nodding solemnly before her gaze snapped to the footsteps from the hallway. She instantly rose from her chair, the slouch she held now a rigid salute. Khalid and Charlie took a glance at one another, then at the hallway as the Colonel emerged, dawned in formal attire. His badges were clearly seen as they contrasted the black uniform, which was perfect and pristine according to protocol. His bald head seemed even more shiny, as he had probably shaved the few stray hairs that remained; Hell, he might've even polished it.

He stopped in front of them, staring at them blankly before his face contorted with a look of disapproval.

"Go get changed. Wear whatever, but keep it formal," he ordered. Khalid, Julia and Charlie did immediately as they were told, muttering a 'yessir' as they passed by.

—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

Deku had heard a girl's voice—though indiscernible—in the common room, and by the silence that followed, they were probably alone.

'I can talk to her about this,' he thought, quickening his pace as he rounded the corner. 'I can tell her the truth.'

On the other end of the building, the echoes of thundering footsteps could be heard, and his mind drifted to one person: The Colonel.

As Deku began to step into the common room, he was stopped by the shifting of black figures on the couch which were obscured by the darkness of the early morning.

"Go get changed. Wear whatever but keep it formal."

Deku was thoroughly confused by the order, since when they passed by (somehow not spotting him plastered against the wall), their attire was _very_ formal. They wore black military uniforms that looked more like suits than an actual uniform. Unlike the colonel, they didn't have any colorful badges on them, only one singular one in gold that had a word that he couldn't quite understand. Their shoes were polished leather, and quite shiny too—even the laces seemed to be fastened perfectly.

Deku stared at the hall across from him, pondering whether or not to slip to the girls' side to find Uraraka, but a nagging curiosity compelled him to stay. It was none of his business it was wrong, but just as he turned to leave, a tuft of pink hair could be seen over the railing. Charlie stopped and vaulted over the wall. Deku froze at what he saw.

She had a rifle strapped to her back, arrows in a quiver, and a pistol in her hand that she twirled around as if it weren't even a weapon. She stopped, tossing the pistol to the colonel in the common room before pulling the gun from the holster on her back and cocking it. She then turned around to face the stairwell.

"You guys ready?" She hollered, though she was too occupied with the scope that mounted her gun to look at Deku. Moments later, a stampede rolled its way down the stairs, but it was just Julia and Khalid. They had abandoned the military uniform for casual wear; Julia sporting an expensive looking athletic jacket, a muscle shirt, and yoga pants while Khalid wore a t-shirt and basketball shorts.

"Yeah we good," he responded quietly, fatigue eminent in his voice. He jogged up to Charlie and Julia with a small briefcase in his hand and dropped it in front of him, but just before it hit the ground, Julia had stopped the object's movement and then brought it close to her.

"Buckle up boys, cause Colonel said this is gonna be a _wild_ ride," Charlie sneered, clasping the rifle to chest then spinning on her heel and walking away; Khalid and Julia followed behind leaving Deku to wonder:

What are their intentions?

—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

Jonathan rubbed his calloused hands together, letting the friction between them wam his palms. He took a deep breath, turning back to Hamilton who was barely visible whilst positioned on a building behind him, perhaps already with her rifle in hand. Jones sat on the roof right above him, legs dangling over the edge as he greeted Jonathan with a friendly wave.

He regained his composure, exhaling deeply as his fingers curled around the door handle as opened it. Stepping inside, he flashed his badge at the receptionist who pointed him to the elevator and directing him to the top floor.

Finally, these scars of war could finally heal.

—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

 **Okay this chapter was SO hard to write for some reason, mostly on the drama with Uraraka and Deku. Honestly, I know that Uraraka is the type of person to speak her mind, but with deku, she seems to want to keep quiet. Deku would want to confront her about this entire fiasco, but I decided to give uraraka background info on his life because**

 **1) tension**

 **2) establishing that she and Bakugo kind of get along (I am a hecka big izuocha and kacchako shipper and I can't decide between both so imma just do a brotp for now)**

 **3) it also helps deku, Leo, and Carson, as well as uraraka and Roy, establish friendships**

 **So I'm just gonna have Deku and Uraraka not talk to each other (or at least talk way less) for a while or something— I DONT KNOW :P**

 **Charlie is also gonna get development because she has had a bunch of screen time..**? **(Page time? Idk) and she's just kind of a meme—a great meme, but a meme nonetheless.**

 **ANYWAY, hopefully you enjoy! Next chapter is gonna really help Ghala, Carson, Julia and Khalid shine (emotionally. Through turmoil. I'm not sorry.)**


	7. Houston—we have a problem

Chapter 7: Houston—we have a problem...

The doors of the elevator shifted apart, revealing a plain corridor made entirely of windows; the only thing there was a wooden door at the other end of the hall. With great hesitation, Jonathan stepped into the hallway, standing frozen until the closing of the elevator doors startled him into moving forward.

The glass walls displayed the city of Tokyo in all of it's glory, fueled by a economy based from "heroism" and all the money-grubbers that came with it. Despite his prejudice though, he could admit that the city was quite nice—he could only imagine it at night, especially from where he was standing. As he kept walking, his thoughts were interrupted by a sharp knock on the window. Jonathan whirled around to see that Sawyer has popped by to say hello, waving cheerfully as she held a grin on her face. He waved back a bit meekly as his hand groped at the doorknob, his fingers gripping the metal so hard that his knuckles turned white.

"Colonel!" Sawyer hollered, though he did not face her. "Go get 'em!"

Jonathan twisted the knob, pushing the door aside to reveal a rather large elliptical table that was nearly filled except for one seat—likely his. Jonathan stalked towards the empty chair at the end closest to the door, trying his hardest not to flop into it as it would be bad manners. He scooted forward, clearing his throat as he set down the documents that President Staedtler had ordered him to use during negotiations.

"Good morning Mr. Ainsworth," a man at the other end of the table greeted, his thick accent amiable.

"Good morning Prime Minister," he responded, flashing a rare smile that didn't seem to suit his face at all. Jonathan shuffled his papers into a neat stack in front of him, clearing his throat to stifle a yawn as he nodded thanks to a server that had slipped into the room and given each person at the table a glass of champagne. Not the greatest thing to drink in the morning, but he'd take it.

The entire room was dead quiet as the woman left..

"Well, shall we begin?" The minister asked, shuffling his own stack of papers, though it was much smaller than Jonathan's.

"Y-yes, of course," he stammered, straightening his bored posture. "We are aiming for a cessation of hostilities. The arms race situation is honestly getting out of control, and it's going to take a toll on our economies if we don't do something. The conflict could also get civilians caught up in this mess—and we don't want a repeat of Palomares."

"With all due respect Mr. Ainsworth, that collision resulted in your bombs falling—and that was in the sixties," the minister retorted, causing a light chuckle to flow throughout the room. "But you are correct that it is getting out of control."

' _Great,'_ Jonathan mused. This meeting was already going horribly.

"I have some terms and conditions from President Staedtler, who unfortunately couldn't be here. He stated that we cease the arms race completely, since it isn't wartime and that it should only continue during wartime. He also stated that spies would be pulled out on both ends; in the air and on the ground. He wanted a ceasing of supernatural ability experimentation due to the massive amounts of human suffering have come from it; And he wanted to have a mutual alliance if wartime does come, since our military arsenals working together would greatly benefit us both. Lastly, he wants us to pull out of all occupied territory, since imperialistic ideology caused this entire mess—and the war. "

' _Hopefully the agree with this,' he thought,_ drumming his fingers irritably on his glass _._

" _Hmm_ , those are all very similar to ours," the minister said. "However we do have some other conditions."

"Go on.."

"We will prohibit the testing of nuclear weapons on both sides, a heightened trade line between our nations, and that we split Bhutan's territory between the two of us."

"But Bhutan is an unoccupied country—we have no business in there. Besides, they're recovering from a crisis from the war that ravaged their people," the colonel scoffed, though his clients didn't seem to want to listen to him.

"We would like to give them some aid," the prime minister clarified, but Jonathan wasn't convinced. Not at all.

"Then you could just donate them money."

"We would like to introduce them to the industrial economy, as their raw materials could benefit their economies quite greatly."

"They kicked China's best ground troops out of the south _twice_ with noting but six foot canon balls; I'm pretty sure they'd be okay on their own."

"You never know."

' _God I fucking hate this man.'_

" _Look,_ the whole reason the President wanted us to pull out of occupied _and unoccupied_ territory is so that we wouldn't fight over it—which is exactly what's going on right now. Arguments over territory was literally the reason World War Three started," Jonathan affirmed, trying to cohort the argument into his favor.

"You're right, I suppose," the minister conceded, though his gesticulations didn't make it seem believable. The room was silent for a moment as the Japanese exchanged glances with one another. Jonathan took this as his queue to leave and let them decide.

"Welp, I'll be outside as y'all decide," he said, rising from his seat. "Just let me know when you need me."

He stepped out into the glass hall, leaning against the surface as he looked out at the city— but there was this nagging feeling that tugged at him.

He didn't quite know what it was, but it wasn't anything good.

—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

Charlie blew a whistle to the wind as she admired Tokyo from her view. Despite the lack of foliage, the city still looked beautiful with its flashing lights and bustling people. Charlie set her rifle by her as she pulled out a small box of ammo, which she also set next to her. She found the best position she could muster—lying flat on her stomach dangerously close to the edge of the building to where the barrel of the gun nearly edged over—and peered into her scope at the glass building the colonel would be in.

Everything was mostly fine, nothing could be seen going in or out of the tower—not even the colonel. Charlie pulled her phone out her pocket (with a great struggle) and un-muted herself on a Discord sever that the class decided to share for communications, since they weren't permitted to have an official one. She fitted an earpiece, courtesy of Thatcher, in her ear and turning it on.

 **C** : " **How's stuff on your end Khalid?"**

 **K:** He was quiet for a moment before responding, " **its all good over here."**

 **C: "How 'bout you Joo?"**

No response.

 **C: "Joo?"**

Still no response.

 **C: "Julia!"**

 **J:** This time Julia spoke. " **Uhhhhh...,"** she faltered into silence before quipping up meekly. " **It's not good."**

 **K: "What the hell's goin' on?"** Khalid asked, his scrambling over the wall audible.

 **J: "There's smoke—and f-fire. L-lots of fire,"** she stammered, her voice breaking a bit.

 **K: "Fire?"**

 **J: "Y-yeah. B-blue fire."**

A sharp and sudden shake of the ground below jerked the tower, tugging it violently from side to side and causing Charlie to slide a bit. Immediately, her head shot up to see the devastation before her. It wasn't the fire Julia had described, but it was equally as bad. Buildings were ravaged and were nothing but rubble. In the distance, purple gas began creeping through the streets and seemed to swallow everything in its path. Charlie then saw the smoke Julia mentioned rising into the air, along with the blue flames she'd seen.

Charlie lowered her eye to her scope and looked around the area.

She aimed down at the rubble before her and saw the swarms of frightened civilians pushing and shoving their way through the streets, but the traffic slowed them to a halt and they didn't budge. It wasn't exactly clear what they were running from due to a dust cloud that accumulated, but it slowly subsided to reveal a large beefy man with his muscles, strangely, on the exterior of his body. They crawled against the surface like snakes as he brought a hand to a lamppost and tore it from the ground.

Charlie's aim gradually pointed to his head, locking the target in place as she waited patiently for the moment to strike.

The man stood still amongst the crowd, and she fired. The bullet traveled to its target, hitting exactly as intended, but oddly, the man didn't fall. The bullet had penetrated, as seen by his movements of trying to pull it out, but it didn't do any damage that would kill him.

"It's cause of that muscle," she mumbled to herself as she lowered the rifle and picked up her bow, arrows, and pistol along with its ammo.

She stepped to the edge of the tower, pausing a moment to take in the destruction once more before she let herself fall over the edge. The soles of her boots unfolded and the fusion cores carried her body even faster to her enemy below.

Little did she know, they were all being watched.

By _millions_.

—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

" _ **Pardon this interruption: U.A is currently going under an emergency lockdown; Students and teachers stay where you are as we assess the situation and act accordingly. We will update you in further notice."**_

"What's going on?"

"Are we all gonna die?"

"Let me out of here!"

They were all in the cafeteria, unable to go in or out. The panicked cries of students filled the room as they all wondered what would happen to them. Some pulled out their phones and began to watch the news, Deku did the same. Thankfully, none of the cell towers were out, so the page still loaded.

He immediately pressed the play button, despite his shaking fingers.

"Breaking news: destruction comes in waves over Tokyo as a terrorist attack on districts 2,3, and 4 respectively. We have confirmed that it is an attack orchestrated by the League of Villains, as evident by the blue fire in district 4."

Deku's heart hammered against his chest as he paused the video. He needed to find everyone, and fast. He saw Kacchan with his friends at one table and ran towards them, tapping a silent Iida on the shoulder and gesturing him to follow.

"Kacchan!" He yelled, looking for anyone else in the room. "We need to get everyone together to figure out what's going on!"

He looked up from his phone, presumably watching the news, as he nodded. He stood up and raised a palm into the air for an explosion to silence the cafeteria, but they'd already began to quiet down as someone else began to yell.

"WILL YOU ALL SHUT UP?! DO YOU HAVE **ANY** SENSE OF PROPRIETY TO THINK THAT YELLING AND SCREAMING WILL MAKE IT WORSE?!"

Carson's face had flushed red from anger as he kept yelling, stunning most of the other students there while his own class tried to calm him down to no avail.

"CARSON. **ENOUGH.** " Emilia growled, her eyes staring so sharply that they could kill a man. As per order, he conceded, sitting down and gesturing at someone. Deku didn't know who it was until Uraraka rose from her seat, waving Roy goodbye and thanking him as she trotted over.

His heart plummeted.

She was branching out—if anyone were to call it that—but it still made him feel, as Kacchan simply put it: "Like shit"

Maybe she just didn't want to be friends anymore...

Deku was pulled away from his thoughts by a tap on the shoulder from Todoroki, who motioned him to sit down with the rest of the class. He plopped down on the floor in front of them, taking the tablet from Todoroki as he fired up the news stationary placed on the floor. The destruction was on display for everyone. They all exchanged fearful glances as the video continued, though it mostly was just reporting on how many heroes couldn't take care of district 3 due to a poison gas, but how someone still went inside and was alive.

The camera then cut to district two with a woman in a jet black suit, a pistol in hand aiming directly into the eye of _Muscular._ Before Deku could even process that, the woman pulled the trigger with no hesitation.

His only other eye rolled back as his large stature collapsed onto the street.

The cafeteria was silent as the woman fired the gun.

It was a shot heard around the world.

—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

 _ ***flashback**_

 _Charlie boosted down to the ground, the soles of her shoes folding inward as she landed behind the terrorist before her. Up close he was quite large, almost like a titan._

" _Hey," she greeted casually, causing the man to turn around to face her. Charlie's face contorted with disgust as she saw the man's empty eye socket when his muscles slithered away to reveal his blonde hair. A sadistic grin enveloped his face as he lunged towards her feet, taking a high stance as he slammed his fists to the ground that cracked under them._

 _Charlie had dodged the obvious attack with ease by coating her figure in electrical energy. She kept her posture seemingly uninterested and casual as she the light flashed with her dodges._

" _Damn dude, not even a hello?" She mocked with fake hurt. "I'm wounded."_

" _You won't get a hello cause I'll kill you," he sneered, charging toward her but she sped behind him and patted him on the back, which he whirled around to face only for her to blink in front of him. This cycle continued for some time before his body grew in mass to the point where he didn't even seem human. Still, she continued to toy with him. She dashed left, then right, up, then in front, then behind. He awkwardly groped at her, trying to catch up with her speed, only ending in failure._

 _Left, Right, Up, In front, Behind. Charlie followed that pattern, whilst holding a leisurely conversation, with the mindset that he was too stupid to catch on, but unfortunately, she was mistaken._

 _The man had stopped trying to catch her, his eye darting at her movements, tracking her._

 _Left, Right, Up, In front, Behind. Still he did nothing._

 _Left, Right—_

 _He whirled a punch at her as she trailed to his right side. Charlie was sent flying into a nearby building, the impact cracking the wall behind her. The electrical current running through her body allowed for a quick reaction to block the punch, but it didn't mitigate the damage._

 _Her arm was bent and broken. She couldn't afford to mess around._

 _Charlie rose from her seat on the sidewalk, pressing a button on her suit that reverted its swollen appearance (it had a mechanism built in to swell if she was going at a certain speed without her board on) back to its usual skintight look._

 _At this point the man had towered over her, looming to intimidate her. But she wasn't afraid; In this job, you_ _ **can't**_ _be afraid._

 _She dropped her bow and rifle on the ground, since they would serve no use with her broken arm, and she clasped the pistol to her leg._

 _She disappeared, and the man stayed still, perhaps waiting for her, but instead of going after him, she darted from building to building, hopping on windowsills to get to the power lines. She clung to the wood, sticking her hand in the metal portion at the top and began letting electricity flow into her body._

" _Sorry 'bout that, I was getting kinda low. Guess I forgot to charge up before I got here," she chided, only making him more angry. He squatted down deeply, then jumped at her, only for her to blink behind him and send electrical shock throughout his body. He dropped to the ground, writhing in pain as his muscles contracted and palpitated. She couldn't lie, it was quite funny._

 _It was no surprise when the man stood back up after a few minutes; that large body could keep him alive after that big of a shock._

 _She needed to get metal—or at least, get him_ _ **near**_ _metal. The disarray or the streets had put all of the light poles under rubble that she couldn't lift. Had she been with Leo, she could pull this off, but she wasn't._

 _She needed to end the fight and kill him quickly, or else the area would be subject to more destruction, so she needed to think fast. Her eyes darted around as she blinked away from various punched and large masses of rubble, until she spotted her silver arrows. And it gave her an idea._

 _She dashed over to them, picking up all twenty of them, and fitting them inside of small pieces of rubble that were still in her general vicinity._

 _One in building she'd collided into,_

 _the second by the light pole that had fallen,_

 _the third and fourth in power lines that were directly across from each other,_

 _the fifth, sixth, and seventh all at the end of the street that had been blocked by rubble,_

 _the eighth, ninth, and tenth at the other end in a large crack in the street,_

 _the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth were balance on broken shop windows near the power lines,_

 _the fourteenth fifteenth and sixteenth were directly across from them,_

 _The seventeenth between the power line and the pole to fill in the gap, and the eighteenth directly across,_

 _the nineteenth was fitted in a cracked building directly across from the first arrow,_

 _And finally, the twentieth was fitted in a crack directly in the center of a circle that she had made with her arrows. She stepped over it, making sure she was directly above it._

 _The man snapped his gaze to her, staring at her for a moment before sprinting over, readying a punch. Charlie resisted the temptation to inch away from the arrow. She stood firmly as the man approached her, his lust for blood and his desire to kill filled the void in his eyes. Just as he stepped up to her, Charlie's hands flew away from her sides and were outstretched toward each end of the street._

 _(_ _ **A/N: this is an eloquent way of saying that she's pretty much T-posing)**_

 _Then she released a shock throughout her whole body, an electrical current starting from the middle and going to the arrows at either end of the street, then continuing through the rest of them before she amplified the voltage causing more bolts of lightning to peak towards the center and direct themselves onto the man._

 _The large dosage of electricity made him collapse to the ground. His muscles squeeze and throbbed in pain as he let out a blood curdling scream._

 _But he was smiling._

 _Charlie was completely perplexed. The last thing anyone would be doing in a situation like that is...well, smiling._

 _Smiling then turned into laughter, though it sounded pained. The man sat there for a few minutes, laughing his ass off until he fell quiet. Then still._

 _Charlie pulled out the arrow from the center of the circle, cutting off the current. She then walked up to him, her pistol in hand. She stopped, squatted down at eye level, and shoved the barrel into his empty eye socket, but did not shoot._

" _You're... strong," He said weakly. "You... remind... me... of... a guy I fought...a few years back."_

" _Oh?" Charlie snorted, though she was genuinely curious._

" _He...had green lightning," the man said, his voice breaking. "He's...the guy who...got me arrested."_

 _There was a silence between the two. Charlie wondered wether or not to shoot_ _ **now**_ _, because she could perhaps get some information out of him, but killing him would also be a benefit._

" _You tied to an organization?" She asked as casually as possible, her eyes darting to the smoke in the sky. She hoped Julia and Khalid weren't in any sort of danger, but she knew they could hold their own._

" _League...of Villains."_

" _Leader?"_

 _The man paused for a moment, giving her question some thought, "not...tellin'..."_

 _He fell quiet, and perhaps knowing that Charlie would pull the trigger, he said, "I'm glad...I got to...go down... fightn' someone...strong."_

 _His body slumped over, and his eye oozed blood from where the bullet had penetrated. Charlie fitted her pistol on the clasp at her side, then picked up her arrows, bow and rifle._

 _She took one glance at the corpse as a crow perched itself upon its shoulder and began picking at the bleeding eye. Then, spinning on her heel, she slipped her arrows into her pocket, leaving the corpse to rot amongst the rubble._

—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

"Charlie just killed someone."

Everyone's gaze snapped to Ghala as she spoke. All the blood drained from Carson's face until it went as white as a ghost.

"What..?"

"Did you not just here me?" She pressed, a bit annoyed. "Charlie just killed someone. On national television."

The group had fallen silent, save for the faint 'what?' That escaped Carson's lips. He then snatched the phone from Ghala's hands, restarting the video.

" **Breaking news! The villain Muscular has just been found dead in district 2 of Tokyo! His body can be seen right in front of us: slumped over with a wound in his eye!"**

"Oh my god. Oh-my god," he breathed, now pacing back and forth as his breathing became panicky. It sped up, causing him to wheeze slightly as he kept watching the video; still pacing.

" **In district 3, the a mysterious poisonous gas is spreading throughout the city. It appears to be poisonous—''** the reporter was cut off by a blurred figure darting into the gas— " **However! A brave young soul just plunged into the gas to save civilians!"**

 _Khalid_.

Carson stopped in his tracks as he saw the fire in the next frame (just as he'd paused the video.) he looked at his classmates like a shell-shocked soldier.

"This is bad, this is bad, this is bad, this is really, REALLY bad—"

"Carson. CALM DOWN," Emilia snapped, her hands gripping his shoulders, then muttered, "damn where's Thatcher when you need him.."

Leo flicked his piercing gaze at Emilia, brows furred together in thought. "We can go and back them—"

"NO," Carson roared. "you'll only cause more destruction—since that seems to be the only thing you're good at."

"What?" Leo hissed, distain stinging his words. Before Carson could speak any further, Leo bolted from his seat and lunged at Carson, only to recoil back. Emilia, who was just about to punch Leo, saw the Ghala had a dog whistle between her lips. She blew the almost soundless noise until Leo toppled back into his chair, still covering his ears.

"You," she began, pointing at Roy, "Go get your computer so Carson can tap into their communications."

She pivoted to have a god view of Carson and Leo, "AND YOU TWO: quit your senseless bickering. You're both a hinderance to this entire thing already. You fighting only makes this mess bigger."

The two conceded, though Emilia dragged Leo to the other end of the table (away from Carson) and forcing his body into the seat she was previously in. He looked at her incredulously, but she payed no mind.

Roy sprinted down with his computer, a gift from their witch of a mother for his birthday; Emilia, being somewhat of an afterthought, got nothing from either of her parents.

He flipped it open, hammering in the password as fast as he could and clicking the search engine. He looked as Ghala for further instructions.

"Do you know what they're using?"

"They're using a discord server," Carson blurted, his prolonged pacing and fearful expression replaced with one that was rich with knowledge. "It's not too hard to get in, we just have to find the code. I'm pretty sure we can find it if we log into Charlie's email."

Ghala shooed Roy away, dragging Carson in his place and sitting him in front of the computer.

"Go on, do what you need to go."

Carson pressed his fingers to his temples, exhaled deeply, then rested his fingers lightly on the keyboard. He clicked the upper-right-hand-corner of the browser and signed out of Roy's email, typing in Charlie's email, but then paused. His fingers hovered, wriggling, over the keyboard. He chewed his bottom lip nervously before he typed in a password, letter by letter, and shut his eyes he hoped—all of them hoped— that he would find some sort of information.

He got in.

Carson immediately sighed with relief and typed "discord" into the search bar, likely to narrow down the emails. ( **A/N: ok so as a person who actually uses discord, wherever someone invites me to a server, they always send me an e-mail of the code. Not sure if it happens to anyone else, but eh whatever.)**

"Hmm there are fewer than I thought," Ghala commented, "here I thought that inbox would be overflowing."

"Oh no it is," Carson reassured her with a smile. He'd finally calmed down. "She _never_ clears out that thing."

He clicked on an email that had a series of numbers as the subject, reading through the contents before copying the sequence and firing up discord. He logged in, clicked to add a sever, and pasted in the numbers. He inhaled deeply as he clicked enter, plugging in earbuds as he did.

The next few moments felt like an eternity as they all waited for some sort of response from Carson's sharp greeting.

"They're on."

—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

 **I am so,** _ **so**_ **sorry for the absence I've had lately. Honestly I've** **just been super caught up with a bunch of projects, since my school thinks is a great idea to hammer us with them towards the end of the year. Chapters are gonna be coming out pretty rarely for the time being since standardized testing is also coming up (yaaaaaaaay...)**

 **Anyway, next chapter is mostly going to be about Ghala, Julia, Carson, Khalid and the Colonel.**

 **Although Emilia has been kinda on the back burner (ironic since she's the mc lmao) I do have some SPICY tea with her and Roy coming up—There is a hint in there. Sorry it was so short..**

 **Anyway, hope you enjoyed!**


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